Isabella Beeton

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Standard Name: Beeton, Isabella
Birth Name: Isabella Mary Mayson
Married Name: Isabella Mary Beeton
Used Form: Mrs Beeton
IB was the author of the classic book of household management which became a standard reference work for generations following her death—probably, says critic Michael Mason , less common only than the Bible, Shakespeare and the poems of Scott in better-off homes.
Mason, Michael. “A Little Pickle for the Husband”. London Review of Books, 1 Apr. 1999, pp. 33-6.
33
It has been in print continuously since its appearance. IB was a prolific journalist on domestic topics and fashion over the course of her brief career, and assisted with the editing of several magazines for women.
Bloom, Abigail Burnham, editor. Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers. Greenwood Press, 2000.
21
Black and white photograph of Isabella Beeton, standing with her head turned towards the camera, and one hand resting on an ornate chair. She is wearing a black dress with a voluminous skirt and a long, dark beaded necklace.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Literary responses Laetitia Pilkington
Wordsworth chose from her works eleven melancholy and religious couplets from Sorrow, for inclusion in his manuscript anthology presented to Lady Mary Lowther at Christmas 1819. He omitted the later part of the poem...
Author summary Sarah Stickney Ellis
The prolific SSE , author of thirty-four books, was the most popular writer of Victorian conduct literature. Her four advice books addressed women in the burgeoning middle class; she also wrote novels, poems, and didactic...
Author summary Catharine Parr Traill
CPT , sister of the writers Elizabeth and Agnes Strickland and Susanna Moodie , is best known for her naturalist writing about nineteenth-century Upper Canada. She was a letter-writer widely respected and eventually rewarded for...
Reception Harriet Beecher Stowe
The change in subtitle since the book's serial publication seems calculated to reduce its offensiveness to pro-slavery readers. The book sold an astounding 10,000 copies in the first week and sales kept on at a...
Textual Production Charlotte Eliza Humphry
In an interview featured in The Sketch in 1894, Mrs Humphry recalled that this was when she began her literary career, having always had a taste for writing.
“An Interview with "Madge" of ‘Truth’”. The Sketch, Vol.
6
, No. 78, 25 July 1894, p. 698.
Early on she worked with a Mrs...

Timeline

1831: A severe epidemic of puerperal fever struck...

Building item

1831

A severe epidemic of puerperal fever struck in Manchester.
Towler, Jean. Midwives in History and Society. Croom Helm, 1986.
154-5

1845: Eliza Acton published Modern Cookery for...

Women writers item

1845

Eliza Acton published Modern Cookery for Private Families, which Elizabeth David (who is credited with rescuing English food preparation from the slough into which it had fallen during the rationing and shortages during and...

Spring 1852: Clark, Beeton and Company was founded after...

Writing climate item

Spring 1852

Clark, Beeton and Company was founded after the London publishing house of Charles Henry Clark went into partnership with Samuel Orchart Beeton .
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 19, 20, 21
Freeman, Sarah. Isabella and Sam: The Story of Mrs Beeton. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1977.
70-1

Spring 1852: Samuel Orchart Beeton (later the husband...

Building item

Spring 1852

Samuel Orchart Beeton (later the husband of Isabella Mary Beeton) began publishing the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, which stimulated the spread of home dressmaking.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
273
White, Cynthia L. Women’s Magazines 1693-1968. Michael Joseph, 1970.
44-6
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
13
Freeman, Sarah. Isabella and Sam: The Story of Mrs Beeton. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1977.
70-1, 75
Freeman, Sarah. Isabella and Sam: The Story of Mrs Beeton. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1977.
75-9, 133

1861: Publisher S. Beeton began production of Queen,...

Writing climate item

1861

Publisher S. Beeton began production of Queen, his successful women's magazine aimed at the rich and leisured classes.
Beetham, Margaret. A Magazine of Her Own?: Domesticity and Desire in the Woman’s Magazine, 1800-1914. Routledge, 1996.
89-91, 217
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
166
White, Cynthia L. Women’s Magazines 1693-1968. Michael Joseph, 1970.
50
Freeman, Sarah. Isabella and Sam: The Story of Mrs Beeton. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1977.
134

31 December 1864: Samuel Beeton began publishing from London...

Writing climate item

31 December 1864

Samuel Beeton began publishing from London a magazine for young girls called The Young Englishwoman.
Beetham, Margaret. A Magazine of Her Own?: Domesticity and Desire in the Woman’s Magazine, 1800-1914. Routledge, 1996.
217
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
19
White, Cynthia L. Women’s Magazines 1693-1968. Michael Joseph, 1970.
71
Freeman, Sarah. Isabella and Sam: The Story of Mrs Beeton. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1977.
230

11 May 1866: The London Stock Exchange suffered through...

National or international item

11 May 1866

The London Stock Exchange suffered through Black Friday after the bankruptcy of the bank Overend, Gurney and Company .
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
287
Freeman, Sarah. Isabella and Sam: The Story of Mrs Beeton. Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1977.
246-7, 256

December 1894: The monthly Sylvia's Journal (launched on...

Writing climate item

December 1894

The monthly Sylvia's Journal (launched on 31 December 1864 as The Young Englishwoman) ceased publication.
Beetham, Margaret. A Magazine of Her Own?: Domesticity and Desire in the Woman’s Magazine, 1800-1914. Routledge, 1996.
217
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
19
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.

Texts

Beeton, Isabella. “Introduction”. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, edited by Nicola Humble, Abridged, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. vii - xxxvii.
Beeton, Isabella. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Editor Humble, Nicola, Abridged, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Beeton, Isabella, editor. The Book of Household Management. S. O. Beeton, 1861.