Fondo GB 0096 AL217 - Evans, Marian (George Eliot): correspondence

Área de identidad

Código de referencia

GB 0096 AL217

Título

Evans, Marian (George Eliot): correspondence

Fecha(s)

  • [1860]-1874 (Creación)

Nivel de descripción

Fondo

Volumen y soporte

7 items (14 leaves)

Área de contexto

Nombre del productor

Historia biográfica

Mary Anne Evans was born and educated in Warwickshire. She left school aged 16 when her mother died and became her father's housekeeper for several years. In her early 20s she met Charles and Cara Bray and their freethinking, progressive and radical friends; her reading and social contacts led her to reject the evangelical Christian faith of her upbringing and schooling and adversely affected her relationships with her father and her brother Isaac. Following her father's death Marian (as she began to spell her name) moved to London to become a journalist, where she became close friends with the publisher John Chapman and the sociologist Herbert Spencer. Her most important relationship, however, was with the critic George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived as his partner between 1853 and his death in 1878; their love affair was controversial not only because Lewes was married to (but separated from) another woman, but because they were living 'in sin' openly. Marian began writing fiction in the late 1850s; over the next 20 years she became recognized as one of Britain's greatest novelists and is still considered as such today. Her works included Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch.

Marian used several different names during the course of her life: she was born Mary Anne Evans, but adopted the spelling Mary Ann in early adulthood, before deciding to call herself Marian Evans (the most commonly cited form of her name) in 1850; despite not being married to Lewes, she often used his surname whilst they they lived together. To her readers, however, she is George Eliot, a pseudonym she chose so that her writing would not be prejudged as that of a woman (particularly not that of the notoriously 'immoral' Marian Evans Lewes). Her final name change came late in life when a few months before her death she became Mary Ann Cross on her marriage to John Walter Cross. Although a great writer, her personal history and lack of Christian faith made a burial in Westminster Abbey unsuitable, and she was buried beside Lewes in Highgate cemetery.

Institución archivística

Historia archivística

The letters were formerly filed with typed transcripts; however, the transcripts were reported missing in Jul 1973.

GB 0096 AL217 [1860]-1874 fonds 7 items (14 leaves) Cross , Mary Anne , 1819-1880 , nee Evans , novelist x Eliot , George x Evans , Mary Ann x Evans , Marian x Lewes , Marian Evans

Mary Anne Evans was born and educated in Warwickshire. She left school aged 16 when her mother died and became her father's housekeeper for several years. In her early 20s she met Charles and Cara Bray and their freethinking, progressive and radical friends; her reading and social contacts led her to reject the evangelical Christian faith of her upbringing and schooling and adversely affected her relationships with her father and her brother Isaac. Following her father's death Marian (as she began to spell her name) moved to London to become a journalist, where she became close friends with the publisher John Chapman and the sociologist Herbert Spencer. Her most important relationship, however, was with the critic George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived as his partner between 1853 and his death in 1878; their love affair was controversial not only because Lewes was married to (but separated from) another woman, but because they were living 'in sin' openly. Marian began writing fiction in the late 1850s; over the next 20 years she became recognized as one of Britain's greatest novelists and is still considered as such today. Her works included Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch.

Marian used several different names during the course of her life: she was born Mary Anne Evans, but adopted the spelling Mary Ann in early adulthood, before deciding to call herself Marian Evans (the most commonly cited form of her name) in 1850; despite not being married to Lewes, she often used his surname whilst they they lived together. To her readers, however, she is George Eliot, a pseudonym she chose so that her writing would not be prejudged as that of a woman (particularly not that of the notoriously 'immoral' Marian Evans Lewes). Her final name change came late in life when a few months before her death she became Mary Ann Cross on her marriage to John Walter Cross. Although a great writer, her personal history and lack of Christian faith made a burial in Westminster Abbey unsuitable, and she was buried beside Lewes in Highgate cemetery.

The letters were formerly filed with typed transcripts; however, the transcripts were reported missing in Jul 1973.

Bought from Frank Hollings, 1957.

7 letters, mainly written to Marian Evans, [1860]-1874. Correspondents include Sir Edward C Burne-Jones, Sir Frederic Burton, John Chapman, George Henry Lewes, Edmund Owen, Herbert Spencer and Sir Charles V Stanford. Several of the letters express appreciation of the quality of George Eliot's writing.

All letters are autograph, with signatures.

See hard copy catalogue.

Access to this collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Please contact the University Archivist for details. 24 hours notice is required for research visits.

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

English

Typescript catalogue available in the Library's Palaeography Room.

A photostatic copy and a microfilm copy of the text are held by the University of Viriginia.

Compiled by Anya Turner.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
July 2008 Lewes , George Henry , 1817-1878 , author Jones , Sir , Edward Coley , Burne , 1833-1898 , Knight , painter x Burne Jones , Sir , Edward Coley Cross , Mary Anne , 1819-1880 , nee Evans , novelist x Eliot , George x Evans , Mary Ann x Evans , Marian x Lewes , Marian Evans Chapman , John , 1821-1894 , publisher and physician Spencer , Herbert , 1820-1903 , philosopher Stanford , Sir , Charles Villiers , 1852-1924 , Knight , composer and conductor

Origen del ingreso o transferencia

Bought from Frank Hollings, 1957.

Área de contenido y estructura

Alcance y contenido

7 letters, mainly written to Marian Evans, [1860]-1874. Correspondents include Sir Edward C Burne-Jones, Sir Frederic Burton, John Chapman, George Henry Lewes, Edmund Owen, Herbert Spencer and Sir Charles V Stanford. Several of the letters express appreciation of the quality of George Eliot's writing.

All letters are autograph, with signatures.

Valorización, destrucción y programación

Acumulaciones

Sistema de arreglo

See hard copy catalogue.

Área de condiciones de acceso y uso

Condiciones de acceso

Access to this collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Please contact the University Archivist for details. 24 hours notice is required for research visits.

Condiciones

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

Idioma del material

  • inglés

Escritura del material

  • latín

Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras

English

Características físicas y requisitos técnicos

Instrumentos de descripción

Typescript catalogue available in the Library's Palaeography Room.

Área de materiales relacionados

Existencia y localización de originales

Existencia y localización de copias

A photostatic copy and a microfilm copy of the text are held by the University of Viriginia.

Unidades de descripción relacionadas

Descripciones relacionadas

Nota de publicación

Área de notas

Notas

Identificador/es alternativo(os)

Puntos de acceso

Puntos de acceso por materia

Puntos de acceso por lugar

Puntos de acceso por autoridad

Tipo de puntos de acceso

Área de control de la descripción

Identificador de la descripción

Identificador de la institución

Senate House Library, University of London

Reglas y/o convenciones usadas

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Estado de elaboración

Nivel de detalle

Fechas de creación revisión eliminación

Idioma(s)

  • inglés

Escritura(s)

    Fuentes

    Área de Ingreso