Circulating and Subscription Libraries: Institutions as Creators of Genres - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Circulating and Subscription Libraries: Institutions as Creators of Genres

Anne H. Stevens

University of Nevada, Las VegasSlide2

Title pages of the first editions of Horace Walpole’s

The Castle of Otranto

[the subtitle

A Gothic Story

added to later editions] and Clara Reeve’s

The Champion of Virtue

[later renamed

The Old English Baron

]Slide3

Some works that examine the role of institutions in creating genresSlide4

London circulating librariesSlide5

Advertisement at the back of

Mary Anne Radcliffe,

Radzivil

, a Romance. Translated from the Russ of the Celebrated M.

Wocklow

.

London: W. Lane,

1790:

“Any

lady or gentleman having Novels, &c. in manuscript, which they would wish introduced to the public, on

favouring

a line, may depend on having them printed in the most correct and elegant manner

.”Slide6

List of titles from William

Earle,

A new catalogue of the extensive and well-chosen collection of English books; being part of Earle's original French, English, Spanish and Italian Circulating Library; established upwards of 60 years in

Frith

-Street,

Soho

. And now removed to no. 47 Albemarle-Street, Piccadilly; where All new Books, in the instructive and entertaining Classes of Literature, are constantly added. Bookbinding in general. Libraries Repaired, Catalogued, Bought, or Sold by Auction.

 [London

],

 [1799]. Slide7

The “season novel” 1806-1824

t

itles include:

A Winter in London

A Summer at Brighton

A Winter in Bath

A Winter in Dublin

A Summer at Weymouth

A Winter in EdinburghAn Autumn at CheltenhamA Month at Brussels

Six Weeks at Long’s

Three Weeks at

Fladong’s

A Winter in WashingtonSlide8

‘Introduction: Novelists’.

Flowers of Literature

(1806): lxxviii-lxxix

.

“The

success of Mr.

Surr’s

Winter in London

, has, as is usually the case under such circumstances, called forth a herd of imitators. Amongst these,

A Winter in Bath

claims the first notice. Without the aid, however, of an imitative title, its intrinsic merit would have insured and commanded a gratifying reception from the public. The story is well written, the incidents are good, and the characters are excellently

pourtrayed

.

About the same time that

A Winter in Bath

made its appearance, a Mrs. Bayfield had a novel ready for publication, under the title of

Love as it may be, and Friendship as it ought to be

. Her bookseller, however, imitating Mr.

Surr’s

title, and perhaps conceiving that he might safely

practise

an imposition on the public, gave Mrs. Bayfield’s novel the title of

A Winter AT Bath

. This circumstance excited much contention between the booksellers; and we are not certain whether some legal proceedings were not commenced upon the subject. Mrs. Bayfield very candidly declared, not only that the fraud was carried on without her approbation, but without her knowledge

.”Slide9

From

Honoria Scott,

A Winter in Edinburgh; or, the Russian Brothers: A Novel

(1810).

“the

morning brought forth a confirmation of the title being a taking one. Mr. Wigless, a bookseller, certainly of celebrity; for, under his guidance, the literary bantlings of the Miss Muffins were ushered into the world as follows;

‘The Horrors of the Church-Yard; by

Mrs. Radcliff

.’

‘Euphrosyne in Frocks, by

Miss Burney

.’

So delighted was he with every work of genius, and so desirous of making it his own, that when

The Autumn in Bristol

caught his eye, he embroidered it on his own foolscap; but dire mishap! apologies soon flew about, were posted in every blue cover, and appeared in every shape: -- the Autumn in Bristol shed its fruit in other hands; and Mr.

Wigless’s

book remained

as it may be

.”