English Women of Letters: Biographical Sketches (In Two Volumes)

London: Hurst & Blackett, 1863. First Edition. Near Fine. Contemporary half vellum over marbled boards, with gilt to spine and top edges. Mild shelfwear to extremities and small split to the crown of Vol I holding well. Marbled endpapers with the bookplate of Robert Heysham Sayre, chief engineer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad (1824-1907) and the ownership signature of the same on the front endpaper of each volume; Volume II extra-opened between the title and table of contents, but text block tight. Collates: (Vol I) iv, 331 pages, (Vol II) iv, 353: complete, but for the publisher's adverts at the rear of Vol II. Internally, both volumes are exceptionally clean, neat, and pleasing examples of this rare book, which appears twice in the auction record, in 1978 and 1958.

Written as a companion piece to French Women of Letters, Kavanagh's English Women of Letters became an influential reference guide for literary scholars. Rather than focus broadly on women's historical accomplishments, as her predecessor Mary Hays did, Kavanagh narrowly honed the focus of her female biography. "My object is, namely, to show how far, for the last two centuries and more, women have contributed to the formation of the modern novel in the great literatures of modern times." By considering writers from Aphra Behn to Jane Austen to Amelia Opie, Kavanagh encouraged readers to see how women influenced the novel's form from its inception. She further urged them to consider how women continued shaping the literary canon through their ongoing engagement with the form. An exceptionally important work in the feminist canon.

Feminist Companion to Literature 598. Near Fine.