A Book 鈥淪een by Every Butcher & Baker, Cobler & Tinker鈥�: Early English Evelina Rediscovered
Svetlana Kochkina, 海外直播b站
Author Biography
Svetlana Kochkina defended her Ph.D. thesis on Evelina鈥檚 publication history and the evolution of its paratext at 海外直播b站 in 2020 and is currently working on a book based on her doctoral project. She researches and publishes on historical social networks, the evolution of the form and paratextual elements of the book, and the history of book collecting and private libraries. She is presently studying Burney鈥檚 social networks during her years of service as the Keeper of the Robes at the Court of Queen Charlotte (1786鈥�1791) and tracing them with digital humanities tools. Kochkina is an active member of the Bibliographical Society of Canada and was elected its first Vice-President in 2021.
Abstract
At the height of its popularity, Burney鈥檚 Evelina was frequently republished in English both in Britain by the copyright holder Lowndes and outside of its borders and the sphere of influence of British copyright law, notably in Ireland. This essay reveals that the only bibliography of Burney鈥檚 works by Joseph Grau (1981) did not correctly document the true extent of the novel鈥檚 production by these two most important sources supplying the book to Anglophone readers. It uncovers the number and variety of Evelina鈥檚 editions and reprints produced by the publishing house of Thomas and William Lowndes (15) and their Irish counterparts (7) for different segments of the English-speaking book market in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Evelina鈥檚 corrected early publication history demonstrates a fuller and more complex picture of its reach to and popularity among the reading public in Britain and abroad, underestimated until now.
Keywords
Burney, Frances, 1752鈥�1840; Evelina; eighteenth-century novel; early English editions; Lowndes; Irish reprint trade; illustrations; paratext
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