| This blog explores social attitudes in Jane Austen's time, discusses her novels, reviews forgotten 18th century novels, and throws some occasional shade at the modern academy. The introductory post is here. My "six simple questions for academics" post is here. Spoilers abound in my discussion of these forgotten novels, and I discuss 18th-century attitudes which I do not necessarily endorse. This post is one in a continuing series in which I look at the novels which were possibly written by the same author who wrote The Woman of Colour (1808). |
CMP#246 The Woman of Colour and the Attribution Chain
I'm sharing this information with anyone who might be researching The Woman of Colour and the attribution chain of 21 anonymous novels from five different publishers. This is one tangled attribution chain, and it's been difficult to visualize it. I hope this helps.
The first table gives the titles by genre, and by whether they are epistolary or narrative. There are three novels I have not read because they are not available digitally, so I can't confirm their genre. By genre, I am distinguishing between books which are straightforward marriage-plot novels, and those that, like The Woman of Colour, don't have a conventional happy ending. Some use the "good girl/bad girl" approach, with the heroine finding happiness and her heedless friend running into disaster.
The "by the Author of" column shows the books published earlier which are referenced on the title page of each book. The second column shows the novels which later referenced the title on their own title pages.
The second graphic shows more clearly the fact that Light and Shade (1803) is the linchpin on the attribution chain. It is the only novel that has the older titles on its "by the author page." Then it's like a new chain starts, only referencing the titles published in 1803 and after.
There are many mysteries. Why no attributions on the title page of The Aunt and the Niece? And why did the publisher, Crosby, merely say that A Winter in Bath was from the author of "two popular novels" instead of being specific? And if one woman wrote all the Crosby novels in the latter part of the table, why didn't Crosby publish A Woman of Colour? Why did it go to a different publisher? Crosby acknowledged the existence of the novel in later attributions.
For those not aware, the Crosby publishing house was more prestigious than the Minerva publishing house.
The first table gives the titles by genre, and by whether they are epistolary or narrative. There are three novels I have not read because they are not available digitally, so I can't confirm their genre. By genre, I am distinguishing between books which are straightforward marriage-plot novels, and those that, like The Woman of Colour, don't have a conventional happy ending. Some use the "good girl/bad girl" approach, with the heroine finding happiness and her heedless friend running into disaster.
The "by the Author of" column shows the books published earlier which are referenced on the title page of each book. The second column shows the novels which later referenced the title on their own title pages.
The second graphic shows more clearly the fact that Light and Shade (1803) is the linchpin on the attribution chain. It is the only novel that has the older titles on its "by the author page." Then it's like a new chain starts, only referencing the titles published in 1803 and after.
There are many mysteries. Why no attributions on the title page of The Aunt and the Niece? And why did the publisher, Crosby, merely say that A Winter in Bath was from the author of "two popular novels" instead of being specific? And if one woman wrote all the Crosby novels in the latter part of the table, why didn't Crosby publish A Woman of Colour? Why did it go to a different publisher? Crosby acknowledged the existence of the novel in later attributions.
For those not aware, the Crosby publishing house was more prestigious than the Minerva publishing house.
I've read and reviewed most of the novels in this chain. Sorry I was not able to link each title to my review, but if you click on the category "The Woman of Colour mystery" at upper right, you can see all the relevant posts.
Key to genre and type of novel:
Diagram of attributions
This chart below does not show all of the attributions, because if I showed all the connections, it would be too busy to read. You can check each specific book for attributions in the chart above. This chart shows visually that the pre-1803 novels are connected to the later novels only through Light and Shade. No other novel published after 1803 refers back to the earlier novels.
The Woman of Colour connections are shown in red. Again, there are additional connections between the later novels but I have not drawn them all in.
This chart below does not show all of the attributions, because if I showed all the connections, it would be too busy to read. You can check each specific book for attributions in the chart above. This chart shows visually that the pre-1803 novels are connected to the later novels only through Light and Shade. No other novel published after 1803 refers back to the earlier novels.
The Woman of Colour connections are shown in red. Again, there are additional connections between the later novels but I have not drawn them all in.
It's thanks to the amazing Corvey Collection of novels that these novels were are available digitally. Another invaluable resource is the British Fiction Homepage, which provides a listing of novels published between 1800-1829, their distribution to libraries, and their reviews.
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