WOMEN, MORALITY AND ADVICE LITERATURE
Manuscripts and Rare Printed Works of Hannah More (1745-1833) and her Circle from the Clark Library, Los Angeles

Part 1: Manuscripts, First Editions and Rare Printed Works of Hannah More

Women, Morality and Advice Literature focuses on the life and works of Hannah More (1745-1833), one of the best selling and most influential women authors of her time, in England.  Through her writings, philanthropy, political activities, and personal relationships More set out to lead a moral revolution of the nations manners and principles.  Writing in different literary genres and styles her printed works span a period of some five decades.  Plays, poetry and prose written in different styles, were aimed at all levels of society from the aristocracy to the lower class reader.

This major collection of books and autograph letters by Hannah More is held in the Special Collections of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, at the University of California Los Angeles.  In recent years, with the benefit of the Ahmanson Foundation, the library has been collecting materials from the later eighteenth century to the early 1800s, and is now recognised by scholars as one of the great centres in the world for seventeenth and eighteenth century studies.

Our Consultant Editors are Professor Patricia Demers, Department of English, University of Alberta, Professor Anne Mellor, Department of English, UCLA, and Janice Devereux from Otago, New Zealand. 

Hannah Mores Public Voice in Georgian Britain by Patricia Demers is a biographical essay introducing Hannah More, her work and times.  Anne Mellor concentrates on religion and education, two key aspects of Mores life and work, in Hannah More, Revolutionary Reformer.  Janice Devereux provides a transcription of Mores personal notebook entitled, Reminiscencies (1827) containing anecdotes and table talk with personal friends and acquaintances to Barley Wood, including tales about Johnson, Mrs Garrick and Lord Monboddo.

The ambition of Women, Morality and Advice Literature is to provide scholars with a broad body of materials for studying the work of Hannah More and her circle.  It is a major resource to understanding More as playwright, poet, moralist, abolitionist and Evangelical reformer - her thoughts, feelings and emotions.  We also offer a selection of material by her contemporaries, revealing current views and ideas on Mores outspoken writings, opinions and actions, including her admirers, her critics, her biographers and the Blue Stockings.  Among her admirers were Dr Johnson, David Garrick and William Wilberforce, while her critics included Peter Pinder (John Walcot) and Archibald MacSarcasm (William Shaw).  William Roberts was the first More biographer.  Eminent Blue Stockings include Elizabeth Montagu, Anna Laetitia Barbauld and Elizabeth Carter.

 
Part 1:  Manuscripts, First Editions and Rare Printed Works of Hannah More, and works inspired by her.  The manuscripts held at the Clark Library represent a significant collection of Mores correspondence in existence and contain some 180 autograph letters from Hannah More, and over 100 letters written to her, and as such represent an important primary source.  As Patricia Demers states, Here are the letters before [William] Roberts chopped and sanitised them! 

Correspondents include: Sir Thomas Ackland, John Hiley Addington, MP, Henrietta Maria Bowdler, Cadell and Davies, Hester Chapone, Joseph Cottle, David Garrick, Ann (Lovell) Gwatkin, Sarah Martha Holroyd, Mrs Ann Kennicott, Alexander Knox, Zachary Macaulay, Elizabeth Montagu, Sir Robert Peel, Sir William Weller Pepys, Lady Olivia Sparrow, James Stephen, Lord Teignmouth and Henry Thornton.

Also covered in the manuscript collection is the small pocket book (1794) containing Mores religious thoughts, and written with her characteristic pithiness of self-reproach. She says, When shall I gain more self-possession? and When shall I be able to do business with the world without catching the spirit of the world?  Another important item is the notebook entitled Reminiscencies (1827) written by More in her later years.  It contains thirty seven pages of conversations with visitors to Barley Wood, and mentions some forty people including Sir Richard Hill, Rowland Hill, Elizabeth Carter, the Duke of Clarence, Robert Southey and Sir Joshua Reynolds.  To aid readers we include a complete transcription of this manuscript by Janice Devereux.

The printed works cover a selection of first editions, rare printed works and works inspired by More.  We also include later revised editions to understand how More responded to contemporary opinion and advice.  For example, we include the first edition of Sir Eldred of the Bower as well as the second edition containing a stanza rewritten by Johnson.  Mores works were available in other countries and we have selected some titles published in America and France. 

Hannah More's first writings to be published were her plays.  These include Search after Happiness, 1773, a pastoral drama for student performers; The Inflexible Captive, 1775, a blank verse translation of the opera Attilio Regolo by Pietro Metastasio; Percy,1777, written with Garricks sponsorship and guidance, and Sacred Dramas, 1782, a closet drama for young ladies.  In 1779 The Fatal Falsehood ran for only four nights, and More was accused of plagiarism by Hannah Cowley.  We include Cowleys play A Tragedy, by Mrs Cowley for readers to assess the charge of plagiarism.

While enjoying success as a playwright More began to publish her poetry.  We include The Bleeding Rock and Sir Eldred of the Bower, 1776, two ballads about unrequited love; Ode to Dragon, 1777, Dragon was Garricks house dog; The Bas Bleu, 1786, a celebration of Mrs Elizabeth Veseys conversation parties with the Blue Stockings; Florio: A Tale for Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies, 1786; Slavery: A Poem, 1788, inspired by the abolitionists William Wilberforce and John Newton;  and Bishop Bonners Ghost, 1789.

Early in her literary life More began to write essays on the reform of morals, and her first published essay, in what was to become an important crusade was titled, Essays on various subjects, principally designed for young ladies, 1777.  Mores idea for moral reform was to start with the aristocracy as role models for the young and lower classes.  Two such essays include: Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great, 1788, and An Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World, 1791.  Essays on female education include: Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, 1799 and Hints Towards Forming the Character of a Young Princess, 1805.  Other important essays are also included in the publication.  

Coelebs in Search of a Wife, Comprehending Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals was Mores only novel, and was first published anonymously in 1808.  In the first nine months eleven editions were printed, and the work inspired some contemporaries to write their responses, for example Celia in search of a husband, [Medora G Byron] 1909, and Coelebs deceived, [Harriet Corp] 1817.  We also cover later editions of Mores novel, as well as further works in response to it.

The manuscript and printed works of Hannah More and her contemporaries covered in this publication will be an invaluable resource for scholars of English, history and womens studies.  Mores writings, personal relationships, philanthropic schemes, and political actions allow exploration and understanding of the culture of society during the later eighteenth century to the 1800s, including the education of women, Evangelical moral reform, sensibility, the short novel, the Blue Stockings, and abolition of the slave trade.