Edinburgh Critical Editions of Nineteenth-Century Texts – serie

First modern scholarly edition of Catharine Maria Sedgwick's 1824 novel Redwood: A TaleCompletes the modern scholarly library of Sedgwick's major novelsIncludes an historically and theoretically informed critical introduction that situates the novel within American social and literary historyClear and extensive annotations guide readers, particularly undergraduate students, through the novel's historical, geographical, literary, and religious referencesRedwood follows Ellen Bruce as she enters adulthood, navigating the clashing social currents of pious New England farmers, southern belles from South Carolina, slave-owning atheists from Virginia, and sophisticated Philadelphia socialites on her journey to discover the secret of her parentage and craft her own identity as a strong American woman. The novel's embedded slave narrative provides a powerful early prototype for later anti-slavery fiction. Ellen's formidable mentor, Debby Lenox, a single woman who stands over six feet tall and makes her own rules about what constitutes respectable behaviour for women, is remarkably refreshing and original almost two centuries after Sedgwick crafted her.This new edition includes a historically and theoretically informed critical introduction that situates the novel within American social and literary history, also featuring a bibliography for further research and appendices detailing the significant differences between the two nineteenth-century editions.

A new scholarly edition of a bold yet overlooked Victorian text that blends the genres of memoir, travelogue, ethnography and the realist novelPermits students and academic researchers to access more subtle assessments of Lavengro, as well as a range of relevant contextsReappraises the relation of Lavengro to nineteenth-century writings on Romani and traveller cultureExplores George Borrow's influence on an array of later Victorian and modernist authors such as Ford Madox Ford and Virginia Woolf.Surveys and gauges recent debates and critical accounts of George Borrow's life and literary careerThis critical edition of George Borrow's Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest (1851) brings a renewed focus on a formally inventive and original text for scholars of the nineteenth-century autobiographical novel and travelogue. This edition reflects and develops research that anchors Borrow's energetically eccentric vision in a range of notable contexts. The scholarly introduction gives readers unfamiliar with the formidably prolific Borrow an opportunity to discover more about this author's career at home and abroad (as a translator for the British and Foreign Bible Society), his stylistic innovations, and how Lavengro evokes a 'wild England' that became crucial for admirers in the next century such as D.H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, and Virginia Woolf.

This edition offers the complete text of the first published edition of Mary Howitt's Our Cousins in Ohio (1849), based on the letters sent by her immigrant sister in Cincinnati to her family in England. Supplementing the base text are a detailed record of all variants in the first London edition (1849), a critical introduction, explanatory notes, a selection of supplementary materials drawn from contemporary sources, a guide to the historical figures on which Howitt's characters were based and a guide to further scholarship on Howitt. Subjects include the daily activities of the immigrant family, as well as significant historical material, such as slavery, abolition and the persistence of northern racism; the Shakers; Native American boarding schools; the Mexican-American war; and more.

Mona Caird's immensely successful feminist novel, The Daughters of Danaus (1894), remains a popular choice among scholars and teachers of nineteenth-century British literature. This is the first critical edition and the first twenty-first century reprint of Caird's novel with a full editorial apparatus including a critical introduction, notes and appendices. Informed by the novel's fin-de-siecle context, references to Greek mythology and recent scholarship on Caird and the New Woman, this edition will be beneficial for students and scholars of British and Anglophone literature and gender.

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge was a key figure in the history of both women’s poetry and fin-de-siècle poetics. Coleridge, the great grand niece of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is best known for her gothic lyrics, ‘The Other Side of a Mirror’ and ‘The Witch’, poems that expose the undercurrents of desire and suffering housed within the Victorian domestic sphere.This collection provides a new understanding of the rich intellectual, aesthetic and spiritual breadth of Coleridge’s poetry. Drawing on Coleridge’s unpublished letters and manuscripts, it allows readers to trace the fascinating history of the poetry’s composition and to understand its role in the friendships and family ties of this important and often overlooked late-Victorian poet.

This critical edition of George Borrow's Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest (1851) brings a renewed focus on a formally inventive and original text for scholars of the nineteenth-century autobiographical novel and travelogue. This edition reflects and develops research that anchors Borrow's energetically eccentric vision in a range of notable contexts. The scholarly introduction gives readers unfamiliar with the formidably prolific Borrow an opportunity to discover more about this author's career at home and abroad (as a translator for the British and Foreign Bible Society), his stylistic innovations, and how Lavengro evokes a 'wild England' that became crucial for admirers in the next century such as D.H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, and Virginia Woolf.

How does theatre history change when viewed through the life of Ira Aldridge, the first Black star of the British stage? Collating an anthology of plays in which Aldridge frequently performed, this volume proposes Aldridge’s career intervened in British and US debates about slavery and racial equality while reshaping the conventions of British theatre. Aldridge’s repertoire offers readers a way to engage with a long history of racial representation; the anthology ranges from 1721 to 1846 and includes a variety of genres, namely a tragedy, a proto-minstrel burletta, melodramas, and a minstrel play. As Aldridge was limited to a narrow range of roles, his career is uniquely accessible for study. At the same time, the introduction stresses how Aldridge pushed against the boundaries a white culture industry imposed, even as he drastically re-envisioned longstanding portions of the repertoire.

How does theatre history change when viewed through the life of Ira Aldridge, the first Black star of the British stage? Collating an anthology of plays in which Aldridge frequently performed, this volume proposes Aldridge’s career intervened in British and US debates about slavery and racial equality while reshaping the conventions of British theatre. Aldridge’s repertoire offers readers a way to engage with a long history of racial representation; the anthology ranges from 1721 to 1846 and includes a variety of genres, namely a tragedy, a proto-minstrel burletta, melodramas, and a minstrel play. As Aldridge was limited to a narrow range of roles, his career is uniquely accessible for study. At the same time, the introduction stresses how Aldridge pushed against the boundaries a white culture industry imposed, even as he drastically re-envisioned longstanding portions of the repertoire.

It is commonly believed that William Barnes (1801 1886) steered clear of politics in his poetry. Yet, the first poem he ever published in the Dorset dialect was an attack on the enclosures of the village commons in the 1830s. His next eight poems dealt with such topics as rural poverty, penury-induced emigration, the Poor Laws and Corn Laws, and the People's Charter of 1838. This edition of his dialect poems arranged in the chronological order of their first publication in the Dorset County Chronicle exposes the fallacy of the old assumptions about Barnes's lack of interest in political affairs. It shows the gradual development of Barnes's artistry as a poet and of the linguistic means through which he set out to represent in writing the key features of the dialect of his native Blackmore Vale.

A scholarly edition of a significant and exciting late Victorian science fiction novelRichard Jefferies’ After London is uncanny and intriguing, an adventure story, quest romance, dystopia, and Darwinian novel rolled into one, but also a pioneering work of Victorian science fiction. Imagining a mysterious natural catastrophe that plunges its people into a barbaric future, Jefferies' remarkable novel drowns and destroys London and depicts a challenging ‘Wild England’ dominated by nature and filled with evolved animals and devolved humans. Of its time but also distinctively modern, After London can, in its uneasy expression of Victorian and post-Victorian anxieties about industrial development, urbanisation, natural resources, and climate, be regarded as one of the first novels of the Anthropocene. This new critical edition provides one of the earliest examples of a global catastrophe novel that is part of a flowering of nineteenth-century science fiction. It situates After London in a tradition of mid-late Victorian texts that respond to the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace and responds to a host of other key social, political, and cultural issues of the period.Key FeaturesOpens up readings that situate the text in relation to a range of literary, cultural and biographical contexts including Jefferies’ life, ideas, and worksIncludes a chronology of Jefferies' life, a list of his key works, a detailed scholarly introduction, and appendices including the text of 'The Great Snow', a catastrophe short story set in London; and 'Alone in London'; both of which reveal his attitude to London, urban life and the future of humanity

Features previously unpublished material alongside famous plays This pioneering edition provides access to some of the most popular plays of the nineteenth century. Characterised by exhilarating plots, large-scale special effects and often transgressive characterisation, these dramas are still exciting for modern readers. This anthology lays the foundation for further scholarly work on sensation drama and focuses public attention on to this influential and immensely popular genre. It features five plays from writers including Dion Boucicault and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. These are supported by a substantial critical apparatus, which adds further value to the anthology by providing rich details on performance history and textual variants. The critical introduction situates the genre in its cultural context and argues for the significance of sensation drama to shifting theatrical cultures and practices.Key FeaturesProvides detailed critical apparatus to facilitate the study of neglected plays, including performance history, notes and recommended further readingWidens the critical conversation on sensation drama by drawing attention to the work of female playwrightsReprints obscure works by popular authors and shows their involvement with both literary and theatrical cultures

Features previously unpublished material alongside famous plays This pioneering edition provides access to some of the most popular plays of the nineteenth century. Characterised by exhilarating plots, large-scale special effects and often transgressive characterisation, these dramas are still exciting for modern readers. This anthology lays the foundation for further scholarly work on sensation drama and focuses public attention on to this influential and immensely popular genre. It features five plays from writers including Dion Boucicault and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. These are supported by a substantial critical apparatus, which adds further value to the anthology by providing rich details on performance history and textual variants. The critical introduction situates the genre in its cultural context and argues for the significance of sensation drama to shifting theatrical cultures and practices.Key FeaturesProvides detailed critical apparatus to facilitate the study of neglected plays, including performance history, notes and recommended further readingWidens the critical conversation on sensation drama by drawing attention to the work of female playwrightsReprints obscure works by popular authors and shows their involvement with both literary and theatrical cultures

A scholarly edition of a significant and exciting late Victorian science fiction novelRichard Jefferies’ After London is uncanny and intriguing, an adventure story, quest romance, dystopia, and Darwinian novel rolled into one, but also a pioneering work of Victorian science fiction. Imagining a mysterious natural catastrophe that plunges its people into a barbaric future, Jefferies' remarkable novel drowns and destroys London and depicts a challenging ‘Wild England’ dominated by nature and filled with evolved animals and devolved humans. Of its time but also distinctively modern, After London can, in its uneasy expression of Victorian and post-Victorian anxieties about industrial development, urbanisation, natural resources, and climate, be regarded as one of the first novels of the Anthropocene. This new critical edition provides one of the earliest examples of a global catastrophe novel that is part of a flowering of nineteenth-century science fiction. It situates After London in a tradition of mid-late Victorian texts that respond to the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace and responds to a host of other key social, political, and cultural issues of the period.Key FeaturesOpens up readings that situate the text in relation to a range of literary, cultural and biographical contexts including Jefferies’ life, ideas, and worksIncludes a chronology of Jefferies' life, a list of his key works, a detailed scholarly introduction, and appendices including the text of 'The Great Snow', a catastrophe short story set in London; and 'Alone in London'; both of which reveal his attitude to London, urban life and the future of humanity

A new scholarly edition of a major late-Victorian scientific romance novelMarie Corelli’s A Romance of Two Worlds is regarded as one of the most culturally important Victorian bestsellers. This critical edition offers instructive access to this multifaceted but still largely underappreciated novel that is a key text for scholars and students of late-Victorian women’s writing. It also raises urgent questions about a wide array of textual and cultural concerns, especially the form and function of the Victorian ‘bestseller’.Key FeaturesContains a thorough critical and analytical introduction, annotations and appendicesProvides context and underlines the aesthetic significance of Corelli’s supernatural romanceEngages with the full range of secondary scholarship on this neglected late-Victorian author

First scholarly edition of a neglected, hugely popular best-sellerKey FeaturesFirst scholarly edition of forgotten late Victorian classic of rural life and sensation fictionComprehensive selection of contemporary reviews and commentariesCarefully contextualized introduction to the novel and its authorMaxwell Gray tells the sensational story of an ambitious clergyman, who accidentally kills the father of a woman he has made pregnant, and then allows his closest friend to be convicted of the murder. The best-seller was subsequently filmed three times (1914, 1915, 1934) and presents fascinating insights into the forgotten world of late Victorian rural life. Including a carefully contextualised introduction to the novel and its author, this edition also provides a comprehensive selection of contemporary reviews and commentaries.

First scholarly edition of a neglected, hugely popular best-sellerKey FeaturesFirst scholarly edition of forgotten late Victorian classic of rural life and sensation fictionComprehensive selection of contemporary reviews and commentariesCarefully contextualized introduction to the novel and its authorMaxwell Gray tells the sensational story of an ambitious clergyman, who accidentally kills the father of a woman he has made pregnant, and then allows his closest friend to be convicted of the murder. The best-seller was subsequently filmed three times (1914, 1915, 1934) and presents fascinating insights into the forgotten world of late Victorian rural life. Including a carefully contextualised introduction to the novel and its author, this edition also provides a comprehensive selection of contemporary reviews and commentaries.

First scholarly edition of a bestselling historical novelExplores the socio-political themes of the novel and deemed as relevant today as they were over 200 years agoSituates work in the genealogy of the historical novel and examines its literary and cultural influenceScholarly annotations clarify the historical context: the French Revolution, the related war in Poland, and Britain’s response to Polish refugees in the 1790sPublished in 1803, Thaddeus of Warsaw is a beguiling romance that also exposes the hardships faced by migrants in Britain two hundred years ago. Jane Porter tells the story of a dashing Polish refugee, Thaddeus Sobieski, who must escape hostilities in his homeland. In London he faces poverty and prejudice, but his courage and goodness bring him to the attention of a circle of women who, in a surprising role reversal, either aid or woo him. He must also solve the mystery of his birth by discovering and confronting the British father who abandoned him.A carefully contextualised introduction to the novel and its author situates the work in the genealogy of the historical novel, examining its literary and cultural influence. Supporting materials include contemporary reviews, poems on Poland and correspondence regarding the novel’s early success.

A scholarly edition of a neglected and provocative masterpiece of the fin-de-siècle avant-gardeOffers a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of Crackanthorpe’s first volume of short storiesContextualizes the volume in terms of Crackanthorpe’s other work, in terms of contemporary writers and fin-de-siècle culture and society in Britain and EuropeIncludes two non-fiction pieces by Crackanthorpe, which he published in Albemarle and The Yellow Book in 1892 and 1894Contains an uncollected short story "The Haseltons," which Crackanthorpe published in The Yellow Book in 1894 Hubert Crackanthorpe was a skilful and technically innovative English realist/naturalist writer. This edition of his powerful first collection of short stories features a carefully contextualised introduction to the author and his work. Providing a detailed analysis of his short stories, David Malcolm situates the author within the fin-de-siècle culture and society in Britain and Europe. Appendices contain additional works that reflect Crackanthorpe’s perspective on fiction and contemporary literary trends.

Philip James Bailey’s Festus was an artistic sensation in the Victorian period, a best-seller across the Anglophone world and broadly influential on other writers. This edition marks the first time it has been published in over 100 years, featuring the poem’s first lineation and a contextualization of its scientific and theological imagery. Scholars and students will benefit from a general introduction to Bailey’s life and work with a thematic guide to the poem that made him famous and appendices containing illustrations from period lithography.

Presents the first extended collection of new William Morris essays in several decadeThe first collection of new Morris essays in several decades, gathered from manuscripts, newspapers and long out-of-print contemporary sourcesFollows Morris's development from a youthful art reformer and anti-imperialist through his years as a skilled political theorist and widely influential pan-socialist presenceAdds to our understanding of Morris's views on competition, war, violence, social justice and the need to protect our natural environmentWilliam Morris's socialist essays remain uncannily relevant for our time, as he addresses issues of inequality, precarity, and the need for pleasure and creative fulfilment in work and life. This scholarly edition traces Morris's opinions from his early insistence that all must have access to art in its broadest sense, through his years as a leader and theorist of the nascent British socialist movement. Finally, as Morris became the elder statesman of the socialist/labour cause, these writings demonstrate his efforts to reconcile competing factions in the service of common aims.

Redwood follows Ellen Bruce as she enters adulthood, navigating the clashing social currents of pious New England farmers, southern belles from South Carolina, slave-owning atheists from Virginia, and sophisticated Philadelphia socialites on her journey to discover the secret of her parentage and craft her own identity as a strong American woman. The novel's embedded slave narrative provides a powerful early prototype for later anti-slavery fiction. Ellen's formidable mentor, Debby Lenox, a single woman who stands over six feet tall and makes her own rules about what constitutes respectable behaviour for women, is remarkably refreshing and original almost two centuries after Sedgwick crafted her.This new edition includes a historically and theoretically informed critical introduction that situates the novel within American social and literary history, also featuring a bibliography for further research and appendices detailing the significant differences between the two nineteenth-century editions.

A new scholarly edition of a major late-Victorian scientific romance novelMarie Corelli’s A Romance of Two Worlds is regarded as one of the most culturally important Victorian bestsellers. This critical edition offers instructive access to this multifaceted but still largely underappreciated novel that is a key text for scholars and students of late-Victorian women’s writing. It also raises urgent questions about a wide array of textual and cultural concerns, especially the form and function of the Victorian ‘bestseller’.Key FeaturesContains a thorough critical and analytical introduction, annotations and appendicesProvides context and underlines the aesthetic significance of Corelli’s supernatural romanceEngages with the full range of secondary scholarship on this neglected late-Victorian author

First scholarly edition of a bestselling historical novelExplores the socio-political themes of the novel and deemed as relevant today as they were over 200 years agoSituates work in the genealogy of the historical novel and examines its literary and cultural influenceScholarly annotations clarify the historical context: the French Revolution, the related war in Poland, and Britain’s response to Polish refugees in the 1790sPublished in 1803, Thaddeus of Warsaw is a beguiling romance that also exposes the hardships faced by migrants in Britain two hundred years ago. Jane Porter tells the story of a dashing Polish refugee, Thaddeus Sobieski, who must escape hostilities in his homeland. In London he faces poverty and prejudice, but his courage and goodness bring him to the attention of a circle of women who, in a surprising role reversal, either aid or woo him. He must also solve the mystery of his birth by discovering and confronting the British father who abandoned him.A carefully contextualised introduction to the novel and its author situates the work in the genealogy of the historical novel, examining its literary and cultural influence. Supporting materials include contemporary reviews, poems on Poland and correspondence regarding the novel’s early success.

A scholarly edition of a neglected and provocative masterpiece of the fin-de-siècle avant-gardeOffers a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of Crackanthorpe’s first volume of short storiesContextualizes the volume in terms of Crackanthorpe’s other work, in terms of contemporary writers and fin-de-siècle culture and society in Britain and EuropeIncludes two non-fiction pieces by Crackanthorpe, which he published in Albemarle and The Yellow Book in 1892 and 1894Contains an uncollected short story "The Haseltons," which Crackanthorpe published in The Yellow Book in 1894 Hubert Crackanthorpe was a skilful and technically innovative English realist/naturalist writer. This edition of his powerful first collection of short stories features a carefully contextualised introduction to the author and his work. Providing a detailed analysis of his short stories, David Malcolm situates the author within the fin-de-siècle culture and society in Britain and Europe. Appendices contain additional works that reflect Crackanthorpe’s perspective on fiction and contemporary literary trends.