The English Novel, 1800–1829 : Update 1 (Apr 2000–May 2001)

Peter Garside, with Jacqueline Belanger and Anthony Mandal

This project report relates to The English Novel, 1770–1829: A Bibliographical Survey Published in the British Isles, general editors Peter Garside, James Raven, and Rainer Schöwerling, 2 vols (Oxford: OUP, 2000). In particular, it offers fresh commentary on the entries in the second volume, which was co-edited by Peter Garside and Rainer Schöwerling, with the assistance of Christopher Skelton-Foord and Karin Wünsche, and involved close co-operation between Cardiff University and Paderborn University in Germany. While it was the aim of the Bibliography to provide a marked improvement on existing sources, any claim to have achieved absolute closure in such an unstable literary area as the novel at this period would be vain; and almost inevitably new materials have come to light in the year or so that has intervened between publication and the preparation of this report. A good proportion of these materials have emerged as a result of work at CEIR in advancing our Database of British Fiction, 1800–1829, especially through the continuing trawls made through contemporary reviews and circulating library catalogues. Where promptings have been found in such secondary sources, they have been followed up through examination of copies of original works. New findings have also sent in by interested individuals outside Cardiff, and these communications are recognised below, while information of this nature continues to be actively sought by the CEIR team.

The entries below are organised in a way which matches the order of material within entries in the English Novel, 1770–1829. Sections A and B concern authorship, with the first of these proposing changes to the attribution as given in the printed Bibliography, and the second recording the discovery of new information of interest that has nevertheless not led to new attributions. Sections C and D relate to titles, the first describing ten titles which match the criteria for inclusion and should ideally have been incorporated in the printed Bibliography, while the second (D) lists a further five titles already in the Bibliography but for which surviving copies could not previously be located. The last two sections involve information such as is usually found in the Notes field of entries, and those owning copies of the printed Bibliography might wish (as in the case of the earlier categories) to amend entries accordingly. An element of colour coding has been used to facilitate recognition of the nature of changes, with red denoting revisions and additions to existing entries in the Bibliography, and the ten new titles discovered being picked out in blue. References numbers (e.g. 1800: 4) are the same as those in the English Novel, 1770–1829; when found as cross references these refer back to the original Bibliography, unless accompanied with ‘above’ or ‘below’, in which case a cross reference within the present report is intended. Abbreviations match those listed at the beginning volume 2 of the English Novel, though in a few cases these are spelled out more fully for the convenience of present readers. The entries also refer to a number of circulating library catalogues, four of which (Bettisson, Kinnear, Manchester, and Newman) are described in CEIR Project Report 4. Additionally, the present Report makes use of two further catalogues, details from which have since been added to the Database at CEIR: C. H. Marshall at Bath (1808, with MS additions), and Gerrard Tyrrell at Dublin (1834).

This report was prepared by Professor Peter Garside, with significant inputs of information from Dr Jacqueline Belanger, who collected materials in reviews and library catalogues, and Anthony Mandal, who tracked down and recorded a number of new titles. Information was also generously communicated from outside by a number of individuals, notably: Mr Roger Bettridge, of the Buckinghamshire County Record office; Dr Gillian Hughes, General Editor of the Stirling / South Carolina Research Edition of the Collected Works of James Hogg; Dr Sharon Ragaz, University of Toronto; and Professors Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, from Pittsburgh University, whose pioneering work in preparing a Bibliography of Irish fiction has also more generally stimulated the research at Cardiff. As usual the team has greatly benefited from its association with Projekt Corvey at Paderborn University, particularly in this instance through advice about German works received from Verena Ebbes. Thanks are also due to Michael Bott, of Reading University Library, for help received in locating materials in the Longman archives; and to the trustees of the National Library of Scotland [E] for permission to quote from manuscripts in their care.

A: New Author Attributions

1800: 4
[?PILKINGTON, Mary].
THE CHILD OF HOPE; OR, INFIDELITY PUNISHED. A NOVEL. BY A LADY. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Vernor and Hood, No. 31, Poultry, by J. Cundee, Ivy-Lane, 1800.
I 226p; II 239p; III 239p. 12mo. 10s 6d (Bent03); 10s 6d sewed (CR).
CR 2nd ser. 31: 115–16 (Jan 1801); WSW I: 23–4.
Corvey; CME 3-628-47263-6; ESTC t212844.
Notes. List of ‘Novels published by T. [sic] Crosby’ (2 pp. unn.) at end of vol. 1 of Corvey copy of Frederick Montravers (1803: 77) lists ‘Child of Hope by Mrs Pilkington, 3 vols,  10s 6d’. This could refer either to Mary Pilkington (1766–1839), then mainly writing children’s stories, or the shadowy Miss Pilkington, who apparently operated as a Minerva authoress between 1790 and 1802. Publication of the present work, an epistolary novel, by Vernor and Hood would seem to argue in favour of the former. See English Novel, vol. 1, items 1797: 66, 1798: 56, 57; 1799: 73, 74, for an uninterrupted succession of juvenile works acknowledged by Mrs [Mary] Pilkington and with the imprint of Vernor and Hood. The same publishers are also found in the case of Pilkington’s The Asiatic Princess (2 vols, 1800), omitted from vol. 2 according to the tighter rules for inclusion operating there for specialist fiction aimed at children. This title is not listed in the titles of subsequent adult works of fiction by Mary Pilkington, however, and any attribution to her must be tentative.

1800: 14
[VENTUM, Harriet].
SELINA, A NOVEL, FOUNDED ON FACTS. BY A LADY. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for C. Law, Avemaria-Lane, by Bye and Law, St. John’s-Square, Clerkenwell, 1800.
I viii, 239p; II 268p; III 254p. 12mo. 10s 6d (Bent03); 10s 6d sewed (CR, MR).
CR 2nd ser. 30: 230 (Oct 1800); MR n.s. 32: 93 (May 1800); WSW I: 109.
Corvey; CME 3-628-48643-2; EM 131: 3; ESTC t066392 (BI BL; NA IU).
Notes. Preface describes its author as ‘a new writer’ about to ‘enter the lists of public applause in a species of composition, wherein few, among a host of competitors, have been successful’ (p. [v]). For the attribution to Harriet Ventum, see Justina; or, the History of a Young Lady (1801: 66), which states on its title-page ‘by Harriet Ventum, author of Selina &c. &c.’. It is possibly a misreading of this which has led to the wrong attribution of Selima, or the Village Tale to Ventum: see ESTC and English Novel, vol. 1, 1794: 40, for the correct attribution to Margaret Holford, the elder. Excluding the falsely attributed Selima, apart from this work the earliest recorded publications of Ventum are Justina and The Amiable Tutoress, or, the History of Mary and Jane Hornsby (1801). Most of her following works were for children, though one exception is The Dangers of Infidelity; a Novel (see 1812: 62). Tyrrell Catalogue significantly lists Dangers of Infidelity as ‘by the Author of “Selina” ’.

1800: 47
?L[UCAS], C[harles].
THE FAUX PAS, OR FATAL ATTACHMENT. A NOVEL. IN TWO VOLUMES. BY C. L.
London: Printed for the Author, at the Minerva-Press, by William Lane, Leadenhall Street, 1800.
I 272p; II 267p. 12mo. 7s (Bent03).
CtY-BR In.F275.800; xESTC.
Notes. The initials ‘C. L.’ also appear as the signature to the Introduction to The Castle of Saint Donats (see English Novel, vol. 1, 1798: 44), which is generally attributed to Charles Lucas, and is likewise a Minerva imprint. Lucas’s first fully acknowledged fiction, The Infernal Quixote (1801: 45), another Minerva production, describes him on its title-page as ‘Author of the Castle of St. Donats, &c.’. For another previously unidentified work possibly by Lucas, see also The Strolling Player (1802: 13), below.

1801: 4
[BULLOCK, Mrs].
DOROTHEA, OR A RAY OF THE NEW LIGHT. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster-Row; by R. Noble, in the Old Bailey, 1801.
I 204p; II 183p; III 161p. 12mo. 10s 6d sewed (CR, MR); 10s 6d (ECB).
CR 2nd ser. 34: 238 (Feb 1802); MR n.s. 37: 425 (Apr 1802).
Corvey; ECB 169; NSTC D1596 (BI O).
Notes. Listed in Newman Catalogue of 1814 under ‘Bullock’s (Mrs.)’, together with Susanna; or, Traits of a Modern Miss, this providing the source for the attribution of the latter to Mrs Bullock in Blakey (p. 173). English Novel, vol. 1, also gives Mrs Bullock as the author of Susanna (see 1795: 15). In terms of equivalence, there appears to be a case for a similar attribution of this previously unidentified novel.
Further edn: Dublin 1801 (BL C.193.a.43).

1802: 13
[?LUCAS, Mr].
THE STROLLING PLAYER; OR, LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF WILLIAM TEMPLETON. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed by B. M’Millan, Bow-Street, Covent-Garden; sold by H. D. Symonds, Paternoster-Row, 1802.
I 293p; II 262p; III 294p. 12mo. 12s boards (MR); 12s (ECB).
MR n.s. 40: 208 (Feb 1803); WSW I: 116.
Corvey; CME 3-628-48680-7; ECB 566; NSTC T476 (BI BL).
Notes. BLC and NUC both list under Templeton, William, but text indicates that this name is part of the fiction. A fairly confident attribution is nevertheless found in The Flowers of Literature for 1803, a critical journal published by B. Crosby & Co. According to its Introduction: ‘The author of the Strolling Player, we understand Mr. LUCAS, a young writer of good talents and virtuous intentions, has painted human nature, in most instances, admirably correct; but sometimes injudiciously, in those situations and scenes in which she ought to be screened from the public eye. From such a writer, however, we have, in his future productions, every thing to expect; and we consider the above-mentioned novel as the first emanation of extraordinary talents’ (p. xlviii). Noticeably in the short Notice (p. 461) in the main part of the journal, the publisher is given as Crosby himself, though no copy with such an imprint has been discovered. The same attribution to ‘Mr Lucas’ is also found in an advert by Crosby in the Dorchester and Sherborne Journal on 26 Aug 1803. However, Crosby’s list of ‘Novels’ (2 pp. unn.) at end of vol. 1 of the Corvey copy of Frederick Montravers (1803: 77) lists ‘Strolling Player, by Mr White, 3 vols., 10s 6d’. Even if Mr Lucas is accepted as the more confident attribution, there must be considerable uncertainty about his identity. Charles Lucas, while a not unlikely author for a masculinist picaresque novel such as this, had already published under his own name with The Infernal Quixote (1801: 45); while little is known about William Lucas, author of the didactic The Duellists (1805: 51).

1802: 14
[EARLE, William (jun.)].
WELSH LEGENDS: A COLLECTION OF POPULAR ORAL TALES.
London: Printed by J. D. Dewick, Aldersgate-Street, for J. Badcock, Paternoster-Row, 1802.
vi, 280p, ill. 12mo.
MR n.s. 40: 109 (Jan 1803); WSW I: 129.
Corvey; CME 3-628-51169-0; ECB 176; NSTC W1193 (BI BL).
Notes: Frontispiece carries the legend: ‘Publish’d as the Act directs Nov. 1 1801 by Earle and Hemet, Albemarle Street Piccadilly.’ 5 legends included, the 2nd of which is in verse. ECB dates 1801, and gives Earle as publisher, as well as attributing to William Earle as author. Re-examination of the series of appeals by William Earle jun. to the Royal Literary Society (RLF 20: 654) written 1829–31 now makes it clear that he was almost certainly the author of these tales, which may well have been published earlier singly. In a letter of 6 May 1829, from the Fleet Prison, he describes himself as ‘son of Mr. William Earle formerly the Bookseller in Albemarle Street’, and continues: ‘I am the author of several novels and Legendary Tales published at a very early age and successful in their day particularly the “Welchman” a novel in Four Volumes and “Obi or Three Fingered Jack” in one volume long since out of print and a collection of “Welch Legendary Tales”.’ In another appeal, dated 23 Aug 1830, he writes: ‘In that same year [1799] I wrote a most successful little work which was published in numbers by John Badcock of Paternoster Row, Earle & Hemet Albemarle Street and Cobbett and Morgan Booksellers of Pall Mall entitled “Welch Legends”.’ In this, as in other more immediately verifiable instances, Earle’s recall seems to be sharp and precise, and there can be little reason now to doubt his claim to authorship. Collates in sixes. MR also gives 10s 6d for 8vo, but not discovered in this form. [Thanks are due to Andrew Davies for researching the William Earle jun. correspondence in the Royal Literary Fund Archives (microfilm set).]

1808: 18
[?SMITH, Orton].
SKETCHES OF CHARACTER, OR SPECIMENS OF REAL LIFE. A NOVEL, IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster-Row; B. Crosby, Stationer’s-Court: and J. Lansdown, Bristol, by Mills & Co. St. Augustine’s-Back, Bristol, 1808.
I x, 282p; II 308p; III 392p. 12mo. 15s (ECB).
CR 3rd ser. 15: 88–92 (Sept 1808) full review; WSW I: 112.
PU PR.3991.A1.S54.1808; ECB 541; NSTC S2186 (BI BL).
Notes. MS note on fly-leaf in ViU copy (PZ2.S556.1808) reads, in contemporary hand, ‘By Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of Critic’; this copy has the Preface mistakenly bound near end of last vol. NUC entry states ‘also attributed to Amelia Opie’. Yet an alternative possible authorship, hitherto unrecorded, is discoverable in the Longman Letter Books, in a letter to Orton Smith, dated 4 Feb 1814, which states ‘The Sketches of Character is selling very well with us’ (I, 98, no. 131). The same letter also asks the recipient (who might conceivably have been an agent rather than author) to enquire after ‘a MS entitled “Penrose”, which was in the possession of the late Mr Eagles of  Bristol’, and which the firm had earlier rejected—this suggesting that Smith had connections with Bristol (see also 1815: 54, Section E, below). It is worth noting too, perhaps, the similarity of the imprint of the first edition above to those found in a sequence of novels attributable to the Revd Mr Wyndham (see e.g. 1805: 72). See also 1815: 12, below.
Further edns: 2nd edn. 1813 (Corvey), CME 3-628-48753-6 [with Longmans alone on imprint]; 3rd edn. 1815 (NSTC).

1809: 24
[LIPSCOMB, George].
MODERN TIMES; OR, ANECDOTES OF THE ENGLISH FAMILY. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for J. Budd, Bookseller to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, at the Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall; and Sharpe and Hailes, No. 186, Piccadilly, 1809.
I xxiv, 264p; II 230p; III 261p. 12mo. 15s (ECB, ER).
ER 15: 529 (Jan 1810); WSW I: 78.
Corvey; CME 3-628-48219-4; ECB 390; NSTC M2772 (BI O).
Notes. Preface dated Buen-Retiro, Sept 1809. Originally attributed to ‘John English’ on the basis of title-page information in The Grey Friar, and the Black Spirit of the Wye (1810: 42) and Castlethorpe Lodge; or, the Capricious Mother (1816: 27). This name, however, now turns out almost certainly to have been the pseudonym of Dr George Lipscomb, MD (1773–1846), author of The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham (1847). DNB gives these three novels (the last as ‘The Capricious Mother’) at the tail end of a long list of Lipscomb’s topographical and medical writings. Thanks are due to Roger Bettridge, Buckinghamshire County Record Office, for drawing attention to this connection with Lipscomb.
Further edn: 1810 (NUC).

1810: 42
[LIPSCOMB, George].
THE GREY FRIAR, AND THE BLACK SPIRIT OF THE WYE: A ROMANCE. IN TWO VOLUMES. BY JOHN ENGLISH, ESQ. OF BLACKWOOD HALL.
London: Printed at the Minerva-Press, for A. K. Newman and Co. (Successors to Lane, Newman, and Co.) Leadenhall-Street, 1810.
I 276p; II 299p. 12mo. 10s (ECB, QR).
QR 3: 268 (Feb 1810).
Corvey; CME 3-628-47568-6; ECB 188; NSTC E1008 (BI O).
Notes. For the attribution to Lipscomb rather than, as previously, John English (actually a pseudonym), see notes to the same author’s Modern Times (1809: 24), above.

1813: 6
[HUGHES, Mrs. ?Harriet].
SHE THINKS FOR HERSELF. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, 1813.
I 263p; II 261p; III 345p. 12mo. 16s 6d (ECB, ER).
ER 21: 258 (Feb 1813); WSW I: 110–11.
Corvey; CME 3-628-48650-5; ECB 532; NSTC S1607 (BI BL).
Notes. Two letters in the Longman Letter Books addressed to Mrs Hughes indicate strongly that she is the author. The first, dated 18 Nov 1812, states that the publisher’s reader ‘has given so favorable a report of your MS, that we are induced to undertake the publication’. The same letter offers settlement on a half profits basis, adding ‘If this plan be agreeable to you we will put the work to press immediately & print 500 or 750 copies’. It also advises ‘the omission of the Introductory Chapter’, and ‘that the title be “She thinks for herself” simply with the motto’ (I, 97, no. 377). The second, dated 26 Nov 1812, makes the concession that the author should receive twenty rather than the usual dozen copies, while supplying further details about costs, and concludes ‘The work may be finished we believe before the end of the Year’ (I, 97, no. 381). Notwithstanding Longmans’ advice in their first letter, the novel as published opens with an ‘Introductory Chapter’. In this the author describes herself as plain, bookish, an ‘old maid’, and alone: ‘At the age of forty, having lost my remaining parent, I retired to the village of Heathdale, on the western side of Sussex, where I now reside’ (pp. 3–4). The title-page, on the other hand, matches Longmans’ recommendation. This Mrs Hughes is given as Mrs Harriet Hughes in the typed index to the Letter Books prepared by Michael Bott. ECB dates Feb 1812.

1815: 12
[?SMITH, Orton].
VARIETIES OF LIFE; OR, CONDUCT AND CONSEQUENCES. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY THE AUTHOR OF “SKETCHES OF CHARACTER.”
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster Row, 1815.
I 346p; II 270p; III 295p. 12mo. 18s (ECB, ER, QR).
ER 25: 278 (June 1815); QR 13: 531 (July 1815), 14: 554 (Jan 1816); WSW I: 125–6.
Corvey; CME 3-628-48860-5; ECB 610; NSTC V132 (BI BL, C).
Notes. The attribution is encouraged by a letter from the publishers, addressed to Orton Smith Esq, dated 9 Apr 1821: ‘As we have now little or no demand for Varieties of Life, we beg leave to inform you that it is our intention to include the remaining copies in a sale which we shall make to the trade in a few days; to which we conclude you can have no objection’ (Longman Letter Books, I, 101, no. 132). See also additional note to 1808: 18, above.
Further edn: Philadelphia 1816 (NSTC).

1816: 27
[LIPSCOMB, George].
*CASTLETHORPE LODGE; OR, THE CAPRICIOUS MOTHER. INCLUDING THE CURIOUS ADVENTURES OF ANDREW GLASMORE, A NOVEL, IN THREE VOLUMES. BY THE AUTHOR OF “MODERN TIMES, OR ANECDOTES OF AN ENGLISH FAMILY;” - “THE GREY FRIAR, AND THE BLACK SPIRIT OF THE WYE,” &C. SECOND EDITION.
London: Printed and published by Allen and Co. No. 15, Paternoster-Row, 1816.
I 237p; II 216p; III 208p. 12mo.
Corvey; CME 3-628-47237-7; xNSTC.
Notes. For the attribution to Lipscomb rather than, as previously, John English (actually a pseudonym), see new notes to Modern Times (1809: 24), above. Drop-head title reads: ‘The Capricious Mother’. A novel titled The Capricious Mother; or Accidents and Chances, 3 vols, 15s, is listed in ER July 1812 and QR Mar 1812; and this probably represents the 1st edn. of this work, though no copy with this title has been located. Listed in Tyrrell Catalogue as ‘Capricious Mother; or Accidents and Chances’.

1821: 13
[STEWART, Miss ?Jessie or Janet]
ST. AUBIN; OR, THE INFIDEL. IN TWO VOLUMES.
Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, High-Street; sold also by G. & W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, London; and W. Turnbull, Glasgow, 1821.
I 316p; II 348p. 12mo. 12s (ECB); 14s boards (ER); 12s boards (ER, QR).
ER 35: 266 (Mar 1821), 35: 525 (July 1821); QR 25: 276 (Apr 1821); WSW II: 32.
Corvey; CME 3-628-48593-2; ECB 511; NSTC 2S1527 (BI BL, NCu).
Notes. Copyright Ledger 1, 1818–1826, in the Oliver and Boyd papers (E Accession 5000, Item 1) includes an entry for this novel on pp. 129–30 which credits payment to Miss Stewart. A letter from Miss Stewart among unsorted papers of the same firm in Accession 5000/191, dated 11 Nov 1824 and written from ‘Water of Leith’, also enquires as to the success of the work. A letter from James Hogg to ‘Miss J. Stuart’ of 10 Oct [1808?] is addressed to her at ‘Water of Leith’, this apparently connecting the author of St Aubin with the Jessie Stewart who in 1804 published Ode to Dr. Thomas Percy, Lord Bishop of Dromore, Occasioned by reading the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, and who later contributed to Hogg’s periodical The Spy (1810)—see ‘Notes on Contributors’ under ‘Janet Stuart’, in The Spy, ed. Gillian Hughes (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), p. 569. The above information has been generously contributed by Dr Hughes. ER gives price as 14s boards in Mar 1821, and as 12s boards in July 1821.
Further edn: 2nd edn. 1824 (NUC).

1827: 60
[CHETWODE, Miss ?Anne].
BLUE-STOCKING HALL. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1827.
I iv, 320p; II 328p; III 258p. 12mo. 27s (ECB); 27s boards (ER).
ER 46: 534 (Oct 1827).
Corvey; CME 3-628-47264-4; ECB 63; NSTC 2S6000 (BI BL, C, Dt, O).
Notes. Identified as by Miss Chetwode, rather than by William Pitt Scargill, in Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, 18th–19th Century Irish Fiction Newsletter, January 1998, No. 1. As stated there, Miss Chetwode was the daughter of the Revd John Chetwode of Glanmire (Co. Cork) and the novel is mostly set in Co. Kerry. For a similar reattribution, see 1829: 74, below.
Further edns: 2nd edn. 1829 (NSTC); New York 1828 (NSTC).

1829: 52
[ROBERTON, Mrs].
FLORENCE: OR THE ASPIRANT. A NOVEL, IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Whittaker, Treacher, and Co. Ave Maria Lane, 1829.
I 296p; II 293p; III 311p. 8vo. 24s (ECB, QR); 24s boards (ER).
ER 49: 529 (June 1829); QR 41: 287 (July 1829).
Corvey; CME 3-628-47797-2; ECB 209; NSTC 2K3090 (BI BL, C, E, O; NA DLC, MH).
Notes. Dedication to the King. NSTC 2R12236 attributes to ‘Mrs Roberton’, while Wolff (Item 5918) lists under ‘Robertson, Mrs.’. Towards the end of the novel, Admiral Stanhope, a fierce Protestant, selects ‘an arm-full of books and threw them on to the fire’ (III, 310). The heroine Florence, however, has the last word: ‘ “I shall imagine that the lives of the saints and of martyrs, and the works of highly-talented men, are sending forth a flame as pure as the religion which they professed, and to which they did such honour. But stay—I see a volume which is not worthy to mingle its flames or its ashes with those of such precious matter,” and stepping forward she withdrew from the heap “Father Clement.” ’ (III, 311). The work is strongly in favour of Catholic Emancipation, featuring Scottish characters and setting, and narrated in a highly polemical tone. Grace Kennedy’s death in 1825 and the presence here of a publisher not used for any of Kennedy’s others novels argues strongly in favour of this different authorship.

1829: 74
[CHETWODE, Miss ?Anne].
TALES OF MY TIME. BY THE AUTHOR OF BLUE-STOCKING HALL. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1829.
I 297p; II 311p; III 351p. 12mo. 28s 6d (ECB); 28s 6d boards (ER).
ER 50: 284 (Oct 1829); QR 41: 557 (Nov 1829).
Corvey; CME 3-628-48871-0; ECB 575; NSTC 2S6011 (BI BL, C, Dt, E, O; NA DLC).
Notes. I Who Is She?; II Who Is She?; The Young Reformers; III The Young Reformers. Identifiable as by Miss Chetwode, rather than by William Pitt Scargill, as a consequence of the identification of 1827: 60 to Chetwode in Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, 18th–19th Century Irish Fiction Newsletter, January 1998, No. 1. ‘The Young Reformers’ is set initially in Ireland, and its main character, Albert Fitzmaurice, a Church of Ireland minister, as a young man is introduced to the United Irishmen [from plot summary communicated by Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber].

B: New Information Relating to Authorship, but not Leading to Attribution Changes

1801: 10  ANON, MYSTERIOUS FRIENDSHIP: A TALE.  Newman Catalogue of 1814 attributes to ‘Miss / Mrs. Helme’. It is noticeable that Elizabeth Helme’s St. Margaret’s Cave (1801: 32), where she appears as a named author, was similarly published by Earle and Hemet; but, apart from this, there seems to be little else to connect the two works.

1804: 8  ANON, THE REFORMED REPROBATE. A NOVEL.  Newman Catalogue of 1814 attributes to ‘Kotzebue’; but see existing Notes to entry for greater likelihood of a connection with August Lafontaine. J. F. Hughes, the co-publisher, was quite capable of encouraging false attributions to high-profile authors, such as August von Kotzebue.

1805: 72  [?WYNDHAM, Revd.], MEN AND WOMEN, A NOVEL […] BY THE AUTHOR OF “WHAT YOU WILL”, “TOURVILLE”, &C.”  For a possible alternative to Wyndham as the author of this novel, and others apparently in the same chain (e.g. 1800: 79, 1804: 73), see additional note to 1808: 18, Section A, above.

1806: 12  ANON, THE LAST MAN, OR OMEGARUS AND SYDERIA, A ROMANCE IN FUTURITY.  Newman Catalogue of 1814 states ‘from the French of Volney’. No clear connection has been discovered, however, with Count Constantin François de Volney (1757–1820). In the fiction itself, the narrator, as a traveller in Syria, experiences apocalyptic visions near Palymira, and records the stories of the last couple on earth. The narrative ends with an address from ‘the Spirit of Futurity’: ‘ […] I consign to thee the revelation of the last age of the earth’ (II, 204). Possibly this represents a fictional take on de Volney’s most celebrated work, Les Ruines, ou Méditation sur les révolutions des empires (1791).

1806: 16  ANON, TWO GIRLS OF EIGHTEEN. […] BY AN OLD MAN.  Newman Catalogue of 1814 (in addition to ECB and NCBEL) attributes to George Walker, the author and publisher. However, there are distinct differences between this anonymous and now rare title, in terms of its production history, and surrounding novels by Walker, which usually were acknowledged, listed other works by the author in the title, and entered into subsequent editions. It may or may not be significant that vol. 2 of the Corvey copy contains at the end a 1-page advertisement list of ‘Books Published and Sold by G. Walker’, which begins with four novels by Walker himself, all plainly accredited there as his. The novel itself is a fairly confident direct narrative account of trials and tribulations in contemporary middle-rank society, and has a slightly ogling manner in describing its young heroines. The persona of the ‘old man’ (‘I am too old to write for fame, and too indolent to write for profit’: I, 8) is only occasionally obtrusive, and in literal terms does not match the circumstances of Walker, then in his early thirties.

1807: 5  ANON, THEODORE; OR, THE ENTHUSIAST.  Newman Catalogue of 1814 states ‘from the German of La Fontaine’. A possible clue to a German origin might lie in the Dedication ‘to Her Serene Highness the Reigning Duchess of Saxe-Weimar’; but no direct evidence connecting this work with August Lafontaine has been discovered. The plot is distinct from that of Lobenstein Village (1804: 34), translated ‘from the French [sic] of Augustus La Fontaine’ by Mary Meeke, this presumably stemming from Le Village de Lobenstein (Paris 1802), which itself in its larger title wording claims to be based on the ‘roman allemand […] intitulé Théodor’, the root German text in the English Novel being given as Lafontaine’s Theodor, oder Kultur und Huminität (Berlin, 1802). The plot proper of Theodore; or, The Enthusiast begins at Ch. II: ‘In a village in Swabia, not far from the banks of the Danube, there lived an honest and respectable family of the name of Rosenthal […] The youngest son was Theodore’. The main parts have the all the marks of a standard bildungsroman, with Theodore having fantasies about being a soldier, visiting a Monastery, etc., and with a number of conversations involving marked speakers (‘Fr Anthony’ / Rosenthal / Theodore). Its denouement has Theodore revealed as brother of Theresa; and ends with him lying cold on Leonora’s grave. Another Theodore is the hero of Lobenstein Village, but the story has no similarities with Theodore; or, the Enthusiast as described above. This Theodore is abandoned at the doorstep of the philosopher Lindner and his sister Sabina, who decide to adopt him. The village gossips do not believe the story, and rumour that Theodore is the illegitimate child of Sabina (who has recently been ill) and Lindner’s friend Senk. This precipitates Senk, who loves Sabina, to propose to her to protect her virtue, and she accepts—after accepting his motives were amorous, not simply exigent. The rumours die eventually, as Lindner brings up Theodore. In the second part of the story, the adult Theodore falls in love with Eloisa, but because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding his birth, Eloisa’s mother blocks their union. It transpires that his parents were aristocrats from warring sides, and that Eloisa is Theodore’s cousin. Even when his grandfather accepts him, the snobbish Baroness refuses to accept the truth, until a written confession by his mother and an in-person one by his father explaining the circumstances which led them to such extreme measures makes everything satisfactory. The Baroness repents. Theodore and Eloisa marry, and enjoy the benefits of having two fathers in life. Ultimately, this novel is more of a comedy which unravels the mysteries of Theodore’s birth, than a tragic bildungsroman. It is entirely possible that Theodore; or, the Enthusiast is German in origin, but it is distinct from Lobenstein Village apart from having a similarly named hero, and it would seem that this later work is probably not by August Lafontaine. It is not listed as an English translation of Lafontaine in Dirk Sangmeister, Bibliographie August Lafontaine (Bielefeld: Aisthesis Verlag, 1996).

1808: 91  RATCLIFFE, Eliza, THE MYSTERIOUS BARON, OR THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST, A GOTHIC STORY. In view of the surrounding circumstances, there is a strong chance that the name is actually pseudonymous. For a possible clue regarding the true authorship of this tale, see next item.

1809: 61  ?RADCLIFFE, Mary Anne or [?KER, Louisa Theresa Bellenden], MANFRONÉ; OR, THE ONE-HANDED MONK. A ROMANCE […]  BY MARY ANNE RADCLIFFE.  The Corvey copy of the 2nd edn. (1819) has on its title-page ‘by Mary Anne Radcliffe, Author of The Mysterious Baron, &c, &c.’. This would appear to refer to The Mysterious Baron, or the Castle in the Forest (1809: 91), whose author is given as ‘Eliza Ratcliffe’ on its title-page. Both authorial names have a spurious feel to them, but behind might lie a common author. A report on the tangled issue of the authorship of Manfroné is currently being prepared.

1812: 17  ANON, *WILLIAM AND AZUBAH; OR, THE ALPINE RECESS, A NOVEL.  Newman Catalogue of 1814 attributes to A. J. Montrion. But no such author has been discovered.

1813: 14  COXE, Eliza A., LIBERALITY AND PREJUDICE, A TALE.  A subscription novel published by B. & R. Crosby & Co., and the only work normally accredited to the author. But did she possibly follow on from this very competent performance with other (anonymous) publications? A letter in the Longmans Letter Books to ‘Miss Cox’, dated 9 Apr 1821, is tempting in this respect: ‘As we have now little or no demand for two or three of your novels, it is our intention to dispose of the remainder in a sale which we shall be making to the trade which will enable us to settle the account with you’ (I, 101, no. 112). Of course, this might relate to yet another author, whose identity is otherwise unknown. One wonders, for example, about the origin of Domestic Scenes (1820: 38), a standard Longmans publication, ‘By Lady Humdrum, Author of more Works than bear her Name’.

1817: 13  [?BELL, Nugent], ALEXENA; OR, THE CASTLE OF SANTA MARCO, A ROMANCE, IN THREE VOLUMES. EMBELLISHED WITH ENGRAVINGS. The author is identified as Nugent Bell on the title-page of the second volume of the National Library of Ireland copy of Alexena [detail initially communicated by Rolf Loeber]. This copy (press mark J823), as re-examined by Jacqueline Belanger, has ‘By Nugent Bell, Esq.’ in vol. 2 only, immediately after the title, with ‘Embellished with engravings’ being demoted to after the epigraph: each volume also carries the imprint of A. K. Newman at the Minerva Press, and not that of Brett Smith, Dublin (as found in the last two volumes of the of the University of Virginia copy used for the English Novel entry). It is possible that the name of Nugent Bell also appears in the Virginia copy, but, if so, this was not recorded at the time of inspection. It definitely does not occur in the title of vol. 2 of the copy held by the University of Illinois at Urbana. The surname Nugent, which echoes the Jacobite song ‘Grace Nugent’ and was also that of a prominent Irish Catholic family, reinforces other indications of an Irish provenance for this work.

1819: 13  ANON, THE METROPOLIS. A NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF LITTLE HYDROGEN, OR THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS IN LONDON.  NUC entry describing copy in Brown University wrongly attributes to Andrew Carmichael, the author of The Metropolis (1805), a satire in verse on Dublin. This error is reflected in OCLC World Cat (Accession No. 23271029).

1819: 67  [?TAYLOR, Jane], THE AUTHORESS. A TALE.  Attributed in the Tyrrell Catalogue to ‘Miss Taylor’, this offers an element of contemporary support for the tentative attribution in the English Novel of this and allied titles to Jane Taylor.

1822: 9  ANON, NO ENTHUSIASM; A TALE FOR THE PRESENT TIMES.  Bettison Catalogue states ‘by the Author of Happiness’. This indicates the same author wrote Happiness; A Tale, for the Grave and Gay (1821: 6), whose main publisher was also Francis Westley.

1822: 13  ANON, THE VILLAGE COQUETTE; A NOVEL. […] BY THE AUTHOR OF “SUCH IS THE WORLD.”  Bettison Catalogue attributes ‘Village Coquet, a Novel’ to ‘Mrs. Macnally’. If the attribution is correct this would also affect Such is the World (1821: 15), as well as offering a potential link with Eccentricity: A Novel (1820: 50), where ‘Mrs Mac Nally’ is acknowledged as author on the title and whose ‘Advertisement’ is signed ‘Louisa Mac Nally’. But whereas Eccentricity is a co-publication of J. Cumming in Dublin and Longmans, the two other novels were published by G. and W. B. Whittaker alone. The signature ‘F. J.’ dated at Kensington in the Preface to The Village Coquette is also hard to square with authorship by Mac Nally, and noticeably in the same Preface the author refers to Such is the World as ‘my first novel’ (p. vi). In her own ‘Advertisement’ to Eccentricity, moreover, Mac Nally, in complaining about the association of her name with ‘an anonymous Publication, not of very recent date’, promises ‘to annex my name (as to the present) to any future Composition which I may be inclined to present to the public’. In all, there appears to be no good reason to link Mrs Mac Nally’s acknowledged novel with the two later works; though on a broader front, the possibility of there being two ‘Village Coquettes’, or even two Mrs Macnallys, should perhaps not be overlooked. Stephen J. Brown, Ireland in Fiction (1919; reprinted 1970), lists The Pirate’s Fort (1854) under Louisa M’Nally (see his Item 1069), though as if by a separate writer of the same name. OCLC WorldCat treats the authors of Eccentricity and The Pirate’s Fort as the same.

1822: 80  [WHITE, Joseph Blanco], VARGAS: A TALE OF SPAIN.  The view that Joseph Blanco White is the author of this novel is defended by Martin Murphy, in ‘The Spanish “Waverley”: Blanco White and “Vargas” ’, Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos, 17 (1995), 168–80.

1822: 81  [WILKINS, George, and others?], BODY AND SOUL.  Further evidence of an involvement by the Revd Shepherd in this work have been found in the Longman Letter Books. A letter to Revd G. Wilkins of 11 Aug 1823 begins: ‘We are willing to publish the new edition of Body & Soul on the terms which were suggested by Mr. Orme to Mr. Shepherd & agreed to by your letter of the 9th—namely to pay you down half the profits on publication, by a note at 6 months’ (I, 101, no. 396E). Another letter, directly to the Revd. Mr Shepherd, dated 31 Jan 1824, offers to ‘publish your “Liturgical Considerations” on the same terms we did “Body & Soul” ’, adding later: ‘As to the statement of Acc[oun]t of the final settlement of “Body & Soul”, we must refer you to Dr Wilkins, who was supplied with copies of all the accounts, & with whom all settlements were made’ (I, 101, no. 420). Mention of ‘Liturgical Considerations’ in this second letter helps identify the addressee as the Revd William Shepherd, Rector of Margaret Roding (Essex), who published Liturgical Considerations; or an Apology for the Daily Service of the Church, contained in the Book of Common Prayer (1824). Of course, Shepherd’s interest in Body and Soul could have been other than as co-author, though this role seems most likely, especially in view of the use of the ‘by one of the authors of Body and Soul’ as an authorial description in later works (see also 1825: 88, below).

1823: 81  [WALKER, ...], RICH AND POOR.  James Hogg in his story ‘Sound Morality’ (1829) implies female authorship with a confidence which might indicate personal knowledge concerning this Edinburgh-published work: ‘there is another person whom we have long lost sight of, like the greater part of our lady novelists, who introduce characters for the mere purpose of showing them off (vide The Laird o’ Fife, Rich and Poor, and a thousand others)’: see Selected Stories and Sketches, ed. by Douglas S. Mack (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1982), p. 128  This also encourages the view that the author was a Mrs Walker.

1825: 88  [?WILKINS, George or ?SHEPHERD, Revd], THE VILLAGE PASTOR. BY ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF BODY AND SOUL.  See 1822: 81, above, for the identification of the Revd Shepherd as William Shepherd, Rector of Margaret Roding (Essex). Re-examination of the correspondence in the Longman Letter Books indicates that early in 1825 the firm was dealing with Wilkins about the second edition of the Two Rectors (1824: 97) at much the same time as apparently offering terms to Shepherd for The Village Pastor. The full text of the key letter to the Revd Mr Shepherd on 17 Feb 1825 reads: ‘We have received a letter from Dr Wilkins, in which he consents to the insertion of “by one of the authors of Body & Soul” in the title of the “Village Pastor”. // The expense of advertising such small volumes being so great a proportion to the other expences, the utmost terms we can propose you are, for an edition of 1250 copies, £50 immediately, & should the edition be sold off within twelve months after the publication £20 more’ (Longman I, 101, no. 495A). Another letter, this time to the Revd Dr Wilkins, dated 21 Feb 1825, indicates that Wilkins was threatening a change of publisher: ‘We thank you kindly for your very friendly letter; and we certainly should feel concerned to see your works published by another house. Before therefore we deliver your letter to Messrs Rivington, we beg leave to propose terms, which we hope will be satisfactory to you, for an edition of 1500 copies (the number we would advise to be printed) viz—on publication of the edition, we will […] without your having to wait the event of the sale pay you in cash half the balance of probable profits.’ (I, 101, 494B). A postscript to this letter, adding ‘We have arranged with Mr Shepherd respecting the publication of his works’, also encourages the view that parallel negotiations were taking place for separate works by these two Anglican clergyman. If this interpretation is followed, then it can be seen that Wilkins himself also adopted the wording ‘by one of the authors of Body and Soul’ for the second edition of The Two Rectors (see 1824: 97), an intention relayed in a postscript of Longmans’ letter to Shepherd of 17 Feb 1825: ‘Dr W. in the next edition of “The Two Rectors” intends to say “by one of the authors of B & S & the V. P.’ While some problematical elements remain, it now seems more likely that William Shepherd, in addition to playing a part in the writing of Body and Soul, was the single author of The Village Pastor.

1826: 47  [HUDSON, Marianne Spencer], ALMACK’S A NOVEL.  A different authorship is suggested by a letter of Maria Edgeworth to Miss Ruxton, 8 Apr 1827: ‘I know who wrote Almack’s. Lady de Ros tells me it is by Mrs Purvis, sister to Lady Blessington; this accounts for both the knowledge of high, and habits of low, life which appear in the book’ (Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, ed. Augustus J. C. Hare, 2 vols (London, 1894), II, 150. In this case, however, gossip would appear to have been misleading. (The accepted author’s married name was Mrs Robert Hudson.)

1826: 68  [?SCARGILL, William Pitt], TRUTH. A NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF NOTHING.  As noted in the English Novel, NCBEL states not by Scargill, which in turn helped encourage there a questioning of his authorship of two others in an apparent chain, ELZABETH EVANSHAW, THE SEQUEL OF TRUTH (1827: 61) and PENELOPE; OR, LOVE’S LABOURS LOST (1828: 70). The ‘Advertisement’ to Elizabeth Evanshaw, however, leaves little doubt that it is by the author of Truth, and also discusses religious issues in a way which might encourage one to associate both novels with Scargill, an Unitarian minister who later became an adherent of the established church. The attribution by Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber of Blue-Stocking Hall (1827: 60) and Tales of My Time (1829: 74) to Miss Chetwode, rather than to Scargill, now raises the possibility of whether the above three novels actually represent Scargill’s true output at this time. If so, the issue remains of their relationship to Truckleborough Hall (1827: 62), Rank and Talent (1829: 72), and Tales of a Briefless Barrister (1829: 73), conventionally attributed to Scargill, and all upmarket novels published by Henry Colburn.

1827: 51  [?MAGINN, William], THE MILITARY SKETCH-BOOK. REMINISCENCES OF SEVENTEEN YEARS IN THE SERVICE ABROAD AND AT HOME. BY AN OFFICER OF THE LINE.  The same authorial description, ‘an officer of the Line’, appears in the title of Sketches, Scenes and Narratives. Chiefly of a Religious Tendency (Dublin, 1828), which as a didactic (evangelical) and partly miscellaneous work was not included in the English Novel. A number of the narratives in Sketches, Scenes and Narratives have an Irish setting and/or Irish soldiers as characters, and an authorship by an Irish officer who has served in the Peninsular War is strongly implied. This would seem to make Maginn’s authorship of The Military Sketch-Book and of Tales of Military Life (1829: 58) even more unlikely, as well as pointing to a separate and common source for the three works mentioned here. It should also be noted, in passing, that the 1849/51 Tales of Military Life, listed as a further edition under 1829: 58, actually represents yet another work (as Wolff, the cited source, make clear in his Item 7575).

1828: 6  ANON, THE LAIRDS OF FIFE.  Another Edinburgh novel for which James Hogg strongly implies female authorship. See commentary on Rich and Poor (1823: 81, above).

1828: 13  ANON, THE CAPTAIN’S LOG BOOK: INCLUDING ANECDOTES OF WELL KNOWN MILITARY CHARACTERS.  Tyrrell Catalogue gives the author as Capt. Frizelle; but no author of this name has been discovered.

1829: 17  BEDINGFIELD, Mrs [Mary] Bryan, LONGHOLLOW: A COUNTRY TALE.  This author published a volume of poetry as Mrs Bryan, and there are entries for her as such in Virginia Blain et al., Feminist Companion to Literature in English (1990), and in J. R. de J. Jackson, Romantic Poetry by Women (1993), though neither say that she later published a novel. Of her life, and relationship with Walter Scott, Dr Sharon Ragaz, University of Toronto, has communicated the following. ‘Mary Bryan first wrote to Scott on 10 June 1818 (E, MS 3889, fols 115–17), saying that she would soon be sending him a parcel. She also enclosed an extract of a favourable notice in the Critical Review of her Sonnets and Metrical Tales (Bristol: City Printing-Office, 1815). The parcel, containing a printed volume—probably the book of verse—and a manuscript, she sent on 27 June, with a letter identifying herself as the widow of a Bristol printer, mother of six children, and debt-encumbered. There are eight letters from her in the Walpole Collection of letters to Scott: the final one is dated 25 Sept 1827 (E, MS 3905, fols 7–10). About 1819 she married James Bedingfield (a physician or surgeon—her late husband’s doctor and the dedicatee of the 1815 book) and moved to Stowmarket. Her letters to Scott concern her various literary attempts; she sent him various MSS which he apparently responded to with suggestions (though none of his letters to her have been found). Scott evidently advised her to write a domestic tale, and the final letter describes how she eventually did so. She asks if she can send the MS for his perusal, and states that in writing it she ‘resolved to keep in mind a few general instructions you were then so good as to suggest for that purpose’. This must have been Longhollow. The Preface to Longhollow includes mention of the Waverley novels that echoes comments she makes in a letter of 22 July 1818 (E, MS 3889, fols 155–57). A copy of Longhollow is at Abbotsford.’ It is worth adding that no mention of this later work is found either in Jonathan Wordsworth’s Introduction to the facsimile edition of Sonnets and Metrical Tales (Woodstock Books, 1996).

C: New Titles for Inclusion

1801
[?BRYER, Henry] and/or {?W., J.}.
EIGHT HISTORICAL TALES, CURIOUS AND INSTRUCTIVE: I. THE UNFORTUNATE DAMASCENES. II. JETZER. III. ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM. IV. THE GOWRIE CONSPIRACY. V. MASANIELLO. VI. THE CAMPDEN WONDER. VII. THE MYSTERIOUS LETTERS. VIII. IVAN THE THIRD.
London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul’s Churchyard, by H. Bryer, Bridewell Hospital, Bridge Street, 1801.
viii, 284p, ill., map. 12mo. 4s 6d (CR).
CR 2nd ser. 35: 113 (May 1802); WSW I: 36.
BL 12612.c.2; ECB 82; NSTC T112 (BI E, O).
Notes. Dedication ‘To that Kind Relative, Who Watched over his Helpless Youth with Paternal Care.’ ‘Prefatory Invitation’, signed ‘J. W.’, notes: ‘A few of these [fabled romances] are offered to your perusal; be persuaded to turn awhile from the artful fictions of the novel-writer to the volume before you’ (p. v). List of ‘Tales and Authorities’, pp. vii–viii. ‘The Unfortunate Damascenes’, pp. [1]–62; ‘Jetzer’, pp. 63–84; ‘Arden of Faversham’, pp. 85–130; ‘The Gowrie Conspiracy’, pp. 131–58; ‘Masaniello’, pp. [159]–190; ‘The Campden Wonder’, pp. 191–225; ‘The Mysterious Letters’, pp. 226–42; ‘Ivan the Third’, pp. [243]–284. ECB lists under Bryer (H.), this probably relating to Henry Bryer, the printer, who was associated with a number of historical works at this period, including A Lilliputian History of England, from the Norman Conquest (1806). BLC, following signature, gives as ‘[By J. W.]’

1804
HARLEY, George [Davies].
CIRCUMSTANCES RESPECTING THE LATE CHARLES MONTFORD, ESQ. BY GEORGE HARLEY, ESQ.
Liverpool: Printed by J. M’Creery, Houghton-Street, 1804.
154, 124p. 8vo. 5s (ECB).
WSW I: 298.
BL 12614.g.20; ECB 255; NSTC H589.
Notes. Dedication ‘To the Memory of Charles Montford, This Little Volume, the Feeble Record of his Character, I Give and Dedicate.’ Listed under ‘Novels’ in British Critic, 24: 559–60 (Nov 1804), which states ‘There can […] be no doubt, that at least the greater part of these “Circumstance” are imaginary and fictitious’ (p.559). A play, purportedly written by ‘my departed friend’, begins with new arabic pagination: ‘Love in Marriage. A Comedy, in Five Acts.’ BLC and ECB treat George Harley as pseudonym. ECB dates Sept 1804.

1804
[LINDAU, Wilhelm Adolf].
HELIODORA, OR THE GRECIAN MINSTREL. IN THREE VOLUMES. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF BARON GÖTHE.
London: (Printed by T. Plummer, Seething-Lane, Tower-Street,) for R. Dutton, 45, Gracechurch-Street, 1804.
I 235p; II 187p; III 211p. 12mo. 12s (ECB); 10s 6d sewed (ER).
ER 4: 498 (July 1804).
BL 12547.a.10; ECB 234; NSTC L1661 (BI C).
Notes. Trans. of Heliodora, oder die Lautenspielerin aus Griechenland (Meissen, 1799/1800). Half-titles read ‘Heliodora, or the Grecian Minstrel’. 1p. unn. list of ‘Books, Published by R. Dutton, (Circulating Library,) No. 45, Gracechurch-Street, London’ at ends of vols 2 and 3. BLC correctly gives ‘W. Lindau’ as author of original work; it is possible that the association with Goethe in the present instance was aimed at stimulating greater interest. ECB lists under Goethe, as ‘Helidora; or, the Genuine [sic] minstrel’, and dates Apr 1804. Listed under ‘Novels and Romances’ in Kinnear’s main Catalogue as ‘from the German of Goethe’, and reviewed under ‘Novels and Tales’ in The Anti-Jacobin Review, 18: 357 (Aug 1804).

1805
GOETHE, [Johann Wolfgang von].
HERMAN AND DOROTHEA: A TALE. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster-Row, by Mercier and Co. Northumberland-Court, Strand, 1805.
xii, 142p, ill. 12mo.
BL 11521.aaa.8; NSTC G1268.
Notes. Prose translation of Goethe’s Hermann und Dorothea, first published in Taschenbuch fűr 1798 (Berlin, 1798). Goethe revised his work in 1799 for theatrical performance; his revised version was an epic poem of more than 500 hexameters. ‘Advertisement’ to the present work remarks: ‘The Public are already acquainted with the Poem of Herman and Dorothea; written by the celebrated Goethe, and translated into blank verse by Mr. Holcroft. It is replete with beauties of every kind: but the extreme simplicity of manners and of incident, which prevails throughout, is a defect in the eye of some English readers; who have not been accustomed to see the common occurrences of life written in the language of the Muses. This consideration occasioned the present translation, in prose, to be undertaken’ (pp. iv–v). Thomas Holcroft’s verse translation was first published in 1801.

1806
{SATCHELL, John}.
THORNTON ABBEY: A SERIES OF LETTERS ON RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS.
London: Printed for J. Burditt Paternoster Row. By J. W. Morris, Dunstable, 1806.
I viii, 241p; II v, 242p; III viii, 255p. 12mo.
WSW I: 120.
BL 1697/5763; NSTC S497.
Notes. ‘Preface’, signed ‘Andrew Fuller’, states that ‘The Author of the following work was the late Mr. John Satchell of Kettering’ (vol. 1, p. iii). Errata for vols 1–3, 1p. unn. at end of vol. 3. A fiction, notwithstanding its sub-title. Collates in sixes. Wolff (Item 6164) lists a 2-vol. edn. published in Portsea, n.d., which he speculatively dates as 1815; this has as the subtitle ‘or, the Persecuted Daughter’.
Futher edn: 2nd edn. 1814 (NSTC). NSTC gives 2nd edn. with 1810 imprint date held at Cambridge U.L.; Portsea [1815] (Wolff, see above).

1810
ANON.
TALES ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH. BY A LADY. EMBELLISHED WITH EIGHT ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
London: Printed for J. J. Stockdale, No. 41, Pall-Mall, 1810.
391p., ill. 8vo. 12s, Large paper 21s (ER, QR).
ER 16: 509 (Aug 1810); QR 4: 277 (Aug 1810).
BL 12614.g.21; NSTC L126 (BI C).
Frontispiece dated ‘23rd May, 1810’. Dedication ‘to Anna Eliza Chandos, Countess Temple, the Accomplished Heiress, and Worthy Representative of the Royal Magnificent, and Noble House of Chandos’, by ‘her Ladyship’s Unknown, but Most Obedient, and Very Humble Servant, John Joseph Stockdale […] 31st May, 1810’ (p. [1]). An ‘Advertisement’, dated ‘Whitchurch, Hampshire, 1810’, notes: ‘The following Tales are the production of a young Lady unknown in the Metropolis, and unused to writing for the public eye’ (p. [3]). ‘Contents and List of Cuts’ follows on p. [5]. ‘Philip. A Tale from the Spanish’, pp. [9]–63; ‘Claudius. A Tale from the Spanish’, pp. 64–98; ‘Ernest the Rebel. A Tale from the Spanish’, pp. 99–117; ‘The Welsh Girls’, pp. 118–243; ‘The Captive’s Slave. A Tale from the Spanish’, pp. 244–342; ‘Doristea’s Fortune. A Tale from the Spanish’, pp. 343–91. The constituent tales are advertised separately in a 3pp. adv. list at the end of Fatal Love (1812, see below), with prices ranging from ‘1s 6d, or Royal Paper hot-pressed 2s’ for Ernest the Rebel to ‘4s, or Royal Paper hot-pressed 7s’ for The Welsh Girls. The same list also contains the present work in its complete form at 12s. Examination of the BL copy shows no sign of it having been made up from separate items.

1810
LEFANU, [Elizabeth].
THE SISTER; A TALE, IN TWO VOLUMES. BY MRS. H. LEFANU, DAUGHTER OF THE LATE THOMAS SHERIDAN, M.A.
London: Printed for Richards and Co. New Public Library, Cornhill. By J. Hartnell, Albion-Press, Bermondsey-Street, Southwark, 1810.
I 226p; II 228p. 12mo.
BL C.190.aa.15; xNSTC.
Notes. Not, as first suspected, a children’s book. Listed anonymously under ‘Novels and Romances’ in Appendix (1814) to Kinnear’s Catalogue.

1812
ST. RAPHAEL, Felix [pseud.?].
FATAL LOVE; OR, LETTERS FROM A VILLAGE. EDITED BY FELIX ST. RAPHAEL.
London: Printed for J. J. Stockdale, 41, Pall Mall, 1812.
401p. 12mo. 8s (British Critic).
WSW I: 43.
MRu R54907; xNSTC.
Notes. Preface apologetically states that ‘if the reader be not interested in its contents, nor pleased with the style, he has only one volume to pay for, to wade through, or to throw down’. According to the British Critic, 39: 310 (Mar 1812): ‘a terrible and melancholy tale, not however ill told, of love and madness, crosses, disappointment, and vexations innumerable’. [Details recorded by Dr Gillian Hughes, to whom thanks are due.]

1813
ANON.
THE AGE WE LIVE IN: A FRAGMENT. DEDICATED TO EVERY YOUNG LADY OF FASHION.
London: Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co. Temple of the Muses, Finsbury-Square, 1813.
236p. 12mo. 6s (ER).
ER 22: 246 (Oct 1813); QR 10: 296 (Oct 1813); WSW I: 8.
BL 12614.bbb.1; NSTC L24 (BI C, O).
Notes.  Preface, signed by editor ‘L. L—’, notes: ‘In giving the following pages to the Public, the Editor complies with the particular injunction of the writer of them. Her sun set at a very early period of her day of youth; and the present volume is the result of some of those hours of confinement that she was obliged to submit to’ (p. 3). The British Critic, 42: 80 (July 1813) lists under ‘Novels’, praising ‘an elegant and well-written little volume; certainly from the pen of one who knows a great deal of fashionable life’. A journal of an invalid young woman moving in beau monde circles; evidently unconnected with Louisa Sidney Stanhope’s The Age We Live In. A Novel (1809: 69).

1814
[EGAN, Pierce].
THE MISTRESS OF ROYALTY; OR, THE LOVES OF FLORIZEL AND PERIDITA, PORTRAYED IN THE AMATORY EPISTLES, BETWEEN AN ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGE, AND A DISTINGUISHED FEMALE: WITH AN INTERESTING SKETCH OF FLORIZEL AND PERDITA, INCLUDING OTHER CHARACTERS.
London: Printed by and for P. Egan, 29, Great Marlborough Street; and sold by all Booksellers, 1814.
144p. 8vo.
BL C.57.b.51; NSTC E558.
Notes. Roman à clef relating affair between Prince Regent and Mary Robinson, in the form of letters between the pair. BL copy has author’s inscription dated ‘January 25, 1843’ and signed ‘Pierce Egan’. The handwritten dedication comments: ‘With the Author’s best respects, to J. Richardson, Esq. If there is any merit attached to this little Book—it is from its singularity. The Author having, in the capacity of a Printer—composed the Types, and worked it off at the Press.’ A ‘Memorial […] Sacred to the Memory of Perdita’ appears on pp. 141–44.

D: Titles Previously not Located for Which Holding Libraries Have Subsequently Been Discovered

1806: 32
GENLIS, [Stéphanie-Félicité, Comtesse de].
*THE IMPERTINENT WIFE: A MORAL TALE: CONTAINING ALSO, THE FAIR PENITENT, DALIDOR & MULCE, AND LOVERS WITHOUT LOVE. FROM THE FRENCH OF MADAME GENLIS.
London: Printed at the Minerva Press for Lane, Newman, and Co., 1806.
223p. 12mo. 3s 6d (ECB, ER).
ER 8: 479 (July 1806).
Georgia State University [not seen]; ECB 225.
Notes. Trans. of L’Épouse impertinente (Paris, 1804). In Blakey, but copy not seen. Fuller title (given above) follows ER. OCLC WorldCat (Accession No. 45320233).

1812: 5
ANON.
*FRIENDS AND LOVERS. A NOVEL. INTERSPERSED WITH OCCASIONAL VERSE.
London: Printed for C. Chapple, 1812.
3 vols. 15s (ER, QR).
ER 19: 511 (Feb 1812); QR 7: 231 (Mar 1812).
Rice University, Fondren Library [not seen].
Notes. Publisher from Bent22. OCLC WorldCat (Accession No. 12257155).

1819: 13
ANON.
*THE METROPOLIS. A NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF LITTLE HYDROGEN, OR THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS IN LONDON. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for J. J. Stockdale, 41, Pall Mall, 1819.
I iv, 267p; II 273p; III 260p. 12mo.
No copy of 1st edn. located [but see Notes].
Notes: Details above follow Bodleian copy of 2nd edn. (249.s.263). Introduction presents the (female) narrator’s account. A different work from Eaton Stannard Barrett’s The Metropolis (1811: 18). ECB 383 lists 8th edn, 1819, 24s. OCLC WorldCat (Accession No. 19940628) indicates copies of first edition may be held at Guildhall Library, Emory University, Georgia, and University of Chicago, Illinois.
Further edns: 2nd edn. (NSTC 2M26045); 8th edn. 1819 (NSTC).

1824: 44
GREEN, William Child.
*THE WOODLAND FAMILY; OR, THE SONS OF ERROR, AND DAUGHTERS OF SIMPLICITY. A DOMESTIC TALE, BY WILLIAM CHILD GREEN, ESQ.
London: Joseph Emans, No. 91 Waterloo Road, 1824.
iii, 557p, ill. 8vo.
Kent State University, Ohio [not seen].
Notes: Details chiefly from Summers (p. 563); his dating tallies with the appearance of this title as a work by the author in The Prophecy of Duncannon (see 1824: 43). OCLC WorldCat (Accession No. 663761) confirms 1824 imprint date and also has ‘Added engraved title-page: London I. Emans, Lambeth’.
Further edn: 1826 (MH 18488.8.10; NSTC 2G20225). This Harvard copy has the author’s name on t.p., and the imprint of ‘J. M’Gowan and Son Great Windmill Street, Haymarket’.

APPENDIX F: 3
[COOPER, Maria Susanna].
THE WIFE; OR, CAROLINE HERBERT. BY THE LATE AUTHOR OF THE “EXEMPLARY MOTHER.”
London: Printed for Becket and Porter, Pall-Mall; by W. Bulmer, and Co. Cleveland-Row, 1813.
2 vols. 8vo. 10s (ECB).
WSW I: 218.
Chawton House Library; ECB 98; xNSTC.
Notes. Main details from Hardy (Item 326). This title is not evident as a novel in contemporary circulating library catalogues. The same author’s Moral Tales (1811), also posthumously published, is a work directed at children. Now part of the Chawton House Library, and full text is given as part of the Library’s Novels-on-Line service. An epistolary novel, reportedly offering a revision of the same author’s Letters between Emilia and Harriet (1762)—which  itself had been previously revised as The Daughter: or the History of Miss Emilia Royston, and Miss Harriet Ayres; in a Series of Letters (see English Novel, vol. 1, 1775: 20). The suspicion, when the text was unseen, that The Wife might possibly be a work directed at children proves to have been unfounded; but a chronologically distant root source, and a possibly complicated textual history, raise possible new difficulties over its suitability for inclusion in the main listings.

E: New Information Relating to Existing Title Entries

1804: 31  LAFONTAINE, August [Heinrich Julius], *BARON DE FLEMING; OR, THE RAGE OF NOBILITY. FROM THE GERMAN OF AUGUSTUS LA FONTAINE.  It is likely from the similarity of titles that this was translated from the French translation: Le baron de Fleming, ou la manie des titres (Paris, 1803).

1804: 44  MALARME, Charlotte de Bournon; GOOCH, [Elizabeth Sarah] Villa-Real (trans.). CAN WE DOUBT IT? OR, THE GENUINE HISTORY OF TWO FAMILIES OF NORWICH. BY CHARLOTTE BOURNON-MALARME, MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF ARCADES OF ROME. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, BY MRS. VILLA-REAL GOOCH. IN THREE VOLUMES.  The French original of this novel is Peut-on s’en douter? ou, histoire véritable de deux familles de Norwich (Paris, 1802).

1807: 3  ANON, *MARGARETTA; OR THE INTRICACIES OF THE HEART.  An account for this novel (under the heading ‘Margaretta’) is given in Longman Commission Ledger 1C, p. 42, with an intake of 300 copies itemised on 10 August 1807. This confirms Longmans’ involvement in the work, of which several American imprints survive, though a copy with a British imprint still remains elusive.

1815: 54  [WILLIAMS, William], THE JOURNAL OF LLEWELLLIN PENROSE, A SEAMAN.  Longmans’ letter to Orton Smith dated 4 Feb 1814 (see also 1808: 18, Section A, above) indicates that the firm was keen at this point to procure this work via the Revd John Eagles, the son of the author’s old benefactor in Bristol, Thomas Eagles, though having previously declined it: ‘Some years back we had offered to us a MS entitled “Penrose”, which was in the possession of the late Mr Eagles of Bristol. We then declined it. We understand that it is now in the hands of his son, & that he is disposed to part with it. If you are at all acquainted with the present Mr Eagles, we shall feel particularly obliged if you would inquire respecting it, & on what terms he would part with it. […] We should wish to see the MS before we determine finally respecting [it]’ (Letter Books, I, 98, no. 131). It was presumably at much the same time as this that John Murray—the eventual publisher—was bargaining for it, with Walter Scott reportedly reading and approving the MS (the Edinburgh colophon of the printed work may be revealing in this respect). This letter, as seen here more fully, also encourages the view that Orton Smith lived in Bristol, and at least associated with clergyman, if not being actually being one himself.

1816: 7 ANON, *MALVERN HILLS; OR, HISTORY OF HENRY FREEMANTLE. A NOVEL. […]  SECOND EDITION.  Additions in hand at end of Marshall’s Catalogue include ‘Henry Freemantle 2v 1808’. This would sees to corroborate Block’s suggestion of an earlier publication under this title c.1810. ‘Henry Freemantle’ also appears as such in the main catalogues of Newman, Godwin and Bettison.

1818: 47  [PASCOE, Charlotte Champion, and WILLYAMS, Jane Louisa], COQUETRY.  The existing Notes field states: ‘National Library of Scotland MS 322, fol. 285v (19 Jan 1818) shows Walter Scott recommending the work to Robert Cadell (Constable’s partner), having read it in MS, and suggesting ‘Trevanion’ would be a better title’. Though not intended, this might give the impression that Scott was writing to Cadell. Sharon Ragaz, University of Toronto, has sent the relevant passage from what is actually Cadell’s letter to Constable: ‘I have called on Mr Scott […] he spoke of a Novel written by a Lady which he thinks might do—she names it Coquetry—but he and I agreed that was nonsense—he thinks Trevanion would be better’ E, MS, fol. 286v). As Dr Ragaz suggests, it is likely that Scott in fact suggested ‘Trevelyan’ (a name in the novel itself), with Cadell mishearing. It is also apparent from the end-result that Mrs Pascoe prevailed in her original choice.

1825: 38  [HÄRING, Georg Wilhelm Heinrich]; [DE QUINCEY, Thomas (trans.)], WALLADMOR.  Advertised as to be published ‘in a few days’ in the Morning Chronicle, 21 Oct 1824; then advertised as published (first full advert) in the same paper, 18 Dec 1824. These sightings, while indicating perhaps some delay in publication, would seem to contradict the statement in the existing Notes that the work ‘almost certainly appeared early in 1825’.

F: Further Editions Previously not Noted

1816: 57  [THOMAS, Elizabeth], PURITY OF HEART, OR THE ANCIENT COSTUME, A TALE.  New York (1st American from 2nd London edn), 1818 (personal copy).

1824: 2  ANON, CAPRICE: OR ANECDOTES OF THE LISTOWEL FAMILY. AN IRISH NOVEL […] BY AN UNKNOWN.  2nd edn, as Caprice. A Novel, London, G. Lutz & R. P. Moore, 1828 (OCLC WorldCat, Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber). Still ‘by an Unknown’!

1824: 99  [WOODROOFFE, Anne], SHADES OF CHARACTER; OR, THE INFANT PILGRIM. 3rd edn, 2 vols, 1836, Hatchard (personal copy).

1826: 72  [SMITH, Horatio], BRAMBLETYE HOUSE; OR, CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS.  Boston 1826 (Jarndyce CXL, Item 887).

1829: 29  CROKER, T[homas] Crofton.  LEGENDS OF THE LAKES; OR, SAYINGS AND DOINGS AT KILLARNEY. COLLECTED CHIEFLY FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF R. ADOLPHUS LYNCH, ESQ. H. P. KING’S GERMAN LEGION. BY T. CROFTON CROKER. Reprinted in ‘condensed and popular form’ as Killarney Legends in 1831 (Corvey), CME 3-628-51007-4.

© 2004 Project Director: Professor Peter Garside;  Research Associates: Dr Jacqueline Belanger, Dr Sharon Ragaz;  Database/Website Developer: Dr Anthony Mandal