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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Hyde 89

Fanny Burney correspondence

Overview

Letters to and from author Fanny Burney, many discussing her literary career and author Samuel Johnson.

Dates

  • Creation: 1778-1834

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

.5 linear feet (1 box)

This collection consists of sixteen letters from and six letters to Fanny Burney. Most of the correspondents are family members, and much of the content is family news. Several letters relate to Samuel Johnson and her literary career. One letter to her husband consists mainly of a poem in honor of his birthday, item (1). Prominent correspondents include her brother Charles Burney, item (2); and Hester Lynch Piozzi, item (10).

Biographical / Historical

Fanny Burney (1752-1840) was the daughter of musician and author Charles Burney (1726-1814). In 1777, she first met authors Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale (later Hester Lynch Piozzi), and soon became a key member of their informal literary circle. Her first novel, Evelina, was published anonymously in 1778 to great acclaim, and was followed by Cecilia in 1782 and Camilla in 1796. She married Alexandre Jean Baptiste Piochard, comte d'Arblay, in 1793.

Physical Location

b (shelved with MS Hyde 88)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2003JM-58 (part). Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey; received: 2004.

Related Materials

Several related items are also part of the Hyde Collection, including five letters from Hester Lynch Piozzi in MS Hyde 3, item (14); several letters to and from Hester Maria Elphinstone, Viscountess Keith in MS Hyde 5, items (1-9); a page from an early draft of Camilla, MS Hyde 14; a fragment of her journal, MS Hyde 15; a letter from her father Charles Burney, MS Hyde 57, page 16; another letter from her father, MS Hyde 88, item (3); and several letters from Hester Lynch Piozzi, MS Eng 1477, item (2).

Bibliography

Barrett, Charlotte, ed. Diary & Letters of Madame d'Arblay (1778-1840), with preface and notes by Austin Dobson (London: MacMillan and Co., 1904) Hemlow, Joyce, ed. The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972-1984) Troide, Lars E., ed., The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988-)
  • Barrett, Charlotte, ed. Diary & Letters of Madame d'Arblay (1778-1840), with preface and notes by Austin Dobson (London: MacMillan and Co., 1904)
  • Hemlow, Joyce, ed. The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972-1984)
  • Troide, Lars E., ed., The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988-)

Processing Information

Processed by: Rick Stattler

Title
Burney, Fanny, 1752-1840. Fanny Burney correspondence, 1778-1834: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01770

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

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