Description
Book SynopsisThis is the most comprehensive study of women's letters and letter-writing in early modern England so far undertaken. Drawing on over 3,000 manuscript letters, Daybell shows that letter-writing was a larger and more socially diversified area of female activity than often thought.
Trade Reviewa wise introductory provocation to reflections on early modern literacy * Joseph Loewenstein, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
engages with some of the key concepts in literary studies. * Journal of the Historical Association *
A fine analytical survey and an invaluable manual for the historian * Bernard Capp, History *
an overdue and brilliant tool for students of this crucial emerging field of scholarship ... the depth of material covered and insight into the contextual functions of the genre make it just as invaluable to literary, sociocultural, and feminist scholarship. * Johanna Harris, Notes and Queries *
Daybell's book has an impressive research base and many apt and sometimes entertaining examples ... a welcome introduction to the study of women's letters, and of early-modern society. * Alison Wall, English Historical Review *
Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Letters and Letter-Writers 3: The Composition of Letters 4: Female Literacy and the Conventions of Letter-Writing 5: Delivery, Reception, and Reading 6: The Functions of Letter-Writing 7: Social Relations Inscribed in Correspondence: Authority and Affection 8: Marital Correspondence 9: Letters of Petition 10: Conclusion Bibliography Index
