Edith Somerville

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Standard Name: Somerville, Edith
Birth Name: Edith Anne Œnone Somerville
Pseudonym: Geilles Herring
Pseudonym: Viva Graham
Pseudonym: E. Œ. Somerville
Pseudonym: Somerville and Ross
ES , who published from 1885, is known from the Somerville and Ross partnership which produced at least one important novel and a collection of classic comic stories (set in the west of Ireland and centred on fox-hunting), as well as other endearing Irish sketches and travel writings. She continued to write in these genres, mostly story and memoir, after Ross's death (which she saw as interrupting but not ending their collaboration). The later works (the last appeared in 1949) are suffused with nostalgia, and very largely dominated by the need to make money, to keep going an estate which was no longer financially viable. The massive archive of ES 's diary and letters is still almost unexamined.
Black-and-white photo portrait of Edith Somerville, 1916. Shown in profile, she is seated, wears a brimmed hat and suit.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Wealth and Poverty Martin Ross
MR made her will: she left all her worldly possessions (including her literary copyrights) to Edith Somerville .
Collis connects this action with her ill health; but it seems more likely to have stemmed from...
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR worked at their first novel, An Irish Cousin, which began as the Shockerawn,
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
45
a penny thriller or shocker.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
45, 49
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published another book, A Patrick's Day Hunt: the first edition consisted of 5,000 copies.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
254
Textual Production Elizabeth Jane Howard
She was invited to do a script for an Irish film by Jonathan Cavendish about Edith Somerville and Martin Ross , but when she looked into their lives she thought they lacked the dramatic structure...
Textual Production Martin Ross
An Irish Cousin, the first collaborative novel by Edith Somerville (here calling herself Geilles Herring) and MR , appeared.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
71
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
247-8
Textual Production Molly Keane
MK wrote a foreword for Gifford Lewis 's selection from the letters of Somerville and Ross , published in 1989.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published their third book, Through Connemara in a Governess Cart, with illustrations by W. W. Russell based on sketches by Somerville.
A governess cart is almost tub-shaped, with high sides...
Textual Production Martin Ross
MR and Edith Somerville published another hunting novel: Dan Russel the Fox: An Episode in the Life of Miss Rowan.
TLS Centenary Archive Centenary Archive [1902-2012]. http://www.gale.com/c/the-times-literary-supplement-historical-archive.
508 (5 October 1911): 368
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
258
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published their third travel book, Beggars on Horseback: A Riding Tour in North Wales.
The title comes from the nursery rhyme which begins: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
252-3
Textual Production Martin Ross
Richard Bentley commissioned MR and Edith Somerville for a three-volume novel, which becameThe Real Charlotte.
Cronin, John. Somerville and Ross. Bucknell University Press.
38
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR finished writing their novel The Real Charlotte, which first brought them public success.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
98
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published, with Ward and Downey , their most popular novel, The Real Charlotte.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
98, 103
Textual Production Oscar Wilde
Wilde shifted the magazine's focus from fashion and transformed it into an organ for women's opinions and feelings on the subjects of modern life, art, and literature, as well as style. He was also dedicated...
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published the book for which they were and are most famous: Some Experiences of an Irish R. M., illustrated by Somerville herself.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
253-4
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
126
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published a sequel to their most successful book: Further Experiences of an Irish R. M.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
146
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
257

Timeline

1911: The Munster Women's Franchise League was...

National or international item

1911

The Munster Women's Franchise League was founded in Cork by writers Edith Somerville and Violet Martin , who published together as Somerville and Ross.

Texts

Somerville, Edith. "Happy Days!" Essays of Sorts. Longmans, Green, 1946.
Ross, Martin, and Edith Somerville. A Patrick’s Day Hunt. Archibald Constable, 1902.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. All on the Irish Shore. Longmans, Green, 1903.
Somerville, Edith. An Enthusiast. Longmans, Green, 1921.
Somerville, Edith. An Incorruptible Irishman. Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1932.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. An Irish Cousin. Richard Bentley and Son, 1889.
Ross, Martin, and Edith Somerville. Beggars on Horseback. William Blackwood and Sons, 1895.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Dan Russel the Fox. Methuen, 1911.
Somerville, Edith. French Leave. William Heinemann, 1928.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Further Experiences of an Irish R. M. Longmans, Green, 1908.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. In Mr Knox’s Country. Longmans, Green, 1915.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. In the Vine Country. W. H. Allen, 1893.
O’Donovan, John et al. “Introduction”. Some Experiences of an Irish R. M., Folio Society, 1984, p. vii - xvii.
Somerville, Edith. Irish Memories. Longmans, Green, 1917.
Somerville, Edith. Little Red Riding Hood in Kerry. Privately printed for the author, 1934.
Somerville, Edith. Maria, and Some Other Dogs. Methuen, 1949.
Somerville, Edith. Mount Music. Longmans, Green, 1919.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Naboth’s Vineyard. Spencer Blackett, 1891.
Somerville, Edith. Notes of the Horn: Hunting Verse, Old and New. Peter Davies, 1934.
Somerville, Edith. Notions in Garrison. Methuen, 1941.
Somerville, Edith. Records of the Somerville Family of Castlehave and Drishane from 1174, to 1940. Guy and Company, 1940.
Somerville, Edith. Sarah’s Youth. Longmans, Green, 1938.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Some Experiences of an Irish R. M. Longmans, Green, 1899.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Some Irish Yesterdays. Longmans, Green, 1906.
Somerville, Edith. Stray-Aways. Longmans, Green, 1920.