A Collection-level Description for the Anna Seward Letters

Reference: GB 0150 AS
Title: Anna Seward Letters
Dates of Creation: 1764-1804
Held at: University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department
Extent: 22 items
Name of Creator: Anna Seward
Level of Description: fonds
Creation Information: Processed by Caroline Hughes January 2002
Language of Material: eng
Published by: University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department


Main Library , Edgbaston , Birmingham, B15 2TT , United Kingdom
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Administrative/Biographical History

Anne, or Anna Seward (1742-1809), the "Swan of Lichfield", poet and letter writer, was born in Eyam, Derbyshire. She was the only surviving child of Rev Thomas S. Hunter (also a poet and Canon of Lichfield from 1754) and his wife, Elizabeth (née Hunter). In 1780, she drew public notice with elegiac poems on David Garrick and Captain Cook and these were followed by a poem in 1781 about Major Andre (a former suitor of Honora Sneyd who subsequently married Maria Edgeworth's father) and another one in 1782 about Anne Miller. Other publications included her verse novel Louisa (1784), a poem on her friends the Ladies of Llangollen in 1796, her sonnets in 1799, and Memoirs of Erasmus Darwin in 1804. The Gentleman's Magazine also published her versions of Horace's Odes and controversial letters - published under the pseudonym Benvolio , 1786-87 and then under her own name. She had extensive literary friendships who included Erasmus Darwin and Thomas Day. She left her literary manuscripts to Sir Walter Scott who edited her collected works which were published in three volumes with a memoir in 1810

Reference: Aristocratic Women: the social, political and cultural history of rich and powerful women. A Listing and Guide to Part 2 of the Microfilm Collection (Adam Matthew Publications, 1998).

Scope and Content

A small collection of letters from Anna Seward to Colonel Thomas Dowdeswell, and Mrs Dowdeswell, 1764-1804, together with miscellaneous letters including two from her parents, 1764 and others from her including a contemporary transcript of a letter to Helen Williams, the author, in Paris 1793. The contents of the letters reveal Seward's thoughts and comments on society in Lichfield, the British Government and its management of the Napoleonic wars, and information about her personal life and her writings.

System of Arrangement

The letters are arranged chronologically.

Administrative Information

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The letters to Dowdeswell were purchased in 1968; other letters were purchased in 1971 and 1974 and added to the collection.

Accruals

Further deposits are not expected.

Access Conditions

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

Copyright/Reproduction

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the University Archivist, Special Collections. Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Existence of Copies

The Anna Seward Letters are available on microfilm. were micropublished by Adam Matthew Publications in 1998.

Language of Material

Note

English

Further Information

Finding Aids

A paper handlist is available in the Special Collections Department and at the National Register of Archives in London.

Publication Note

The Anna Seward Letters were micropublished by Adam Matthew Publications in 1998.