Mary Charlton (writer) facts for kids

Mary Charlton (fl. 1794–1824), Gothic novelist and translator, was a "leading light" at the Minerva Press.

Title page of Mary Charlton's The Wife and the Mistress. A Novel. (Vol. 1; London: Minerva Press, 1802; 2nd ed: 1803) (HathiTrust)

Work

Mary Charlton was a prolific novelist and translator for the popular Minerva Press, to the extent that publisher William Lane named her in sixth place on his list of "particular and favourite Authors" in his prospectus. Although the Press was frequently seen as low-brow and even disreputable, Charlton herself seems to have often received solid reviews: the Critical Review described Andronica as "interesting and amusing" and the Anti-Jacobin refers to the "elegant satire and delicate irony" of Rosella. Rosella is "a satire on novel-reading" and her other novels contain "socially critical" elements alongside the Gothic. At least two of her novels, Rosella and The Pirate of Naples, were translated into French and published in Paris, and several of her works went into second editions.

Life

Despite her professional success, next to nothing is known of her life. She is one of the "lost" women writers listed in Dale Spender's Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers Before Jane Austen (1986).

Etexts

• Grandeur and Meanness; or, Domestic persecution. A novel. (London: A. K. Newman & Co, 1824.) (British Library)
• The homicide. A novel. Taken from the comedie di Goldoni. 2 volumes (London: Minerva-Press, 1805) (Internet Archive: Vol. I & Vol. II); (HathiTrust: Vol. I, Vol. II)
• The Parisian, or, Genuine Anecdotes of Distinguished and Noble Characters (London: William Lane, 1794) (PDF at Chawton House Library)
• Past Events. An historical novel of the eighteenth century, by the author of "The Wife and the Mistress," etc. (London, 1824) (British Library)
• Phedora; or, the Forest of Minski. A novel. (London: William Lane, 1798) (British Library)
• Le pirate de Naples. Traduit de l'anglais. (Paris: Le Normant, 1801.) (British Library)
• The Reprobate. A Novel. In Two Volumes. Translated by the Author of The Wife and the Mistress, &c. The Original by Augustus La Fontaine. (London: Minerva Press, 1802) (Google Books: Vol. I Vol. II)
• Rosella, or Modern occurrences, a novel. 2 volumes (Orig. pub. 1799. Dublin: P. Wogan, W. Porter, and T. Burnside, 1800) (Internet Archive: Vol. I & Vol. II); (HathiTrust: Vol. I, Vol. II)
• The wife and the mistress. A novel. 4 volumes. 2nd edition. (Orig. pub. 1802. London: Lane and Newman, 1803.) (Internet Archive: Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III, Vol. IV); (HathiTrust: Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III, Vol. IV)
• "Online books by Mary Charlton." UPenn.

See also

• List of Minerva Press authors
• Minerva Press