A Bibliographic and Paratextual Analysis of Mary Pilkington’s Historical Beauties
By: Belle Eist
Introduction
Over the last three decades of her life, Mary Susanna Pilkington’s literary pursuits totalled a list of publications so abundant and varied that it is a difficult task to choose any one text to investigate. While Pilkington is primarily remembered for her didactic works of youth and children's literature that were crafted for the type of educational setting she created as a governess, her ability to freely move between common, socially acceptable genres and transcend the confines of a genre, justifies recognition and scholarly interpretation. Though Pilkington is not well known for her poetic works, she began her literary career in 1796 with Miscellaneous poems by Mrs. J. Pilkington; she did not return to poetry again until Original Poems, published fifteen years later.¹ By her second year of publication in 1797 and until 1815 (when Pilkington wrote in a letter to James Anderson that a “nervous disorder has totally incapacitated me for every species of Composition”), Pilkington was producing multiple works, primarily didactic and with clear Christian connotations, every year. Pilkington’s unstable finances and her mother’s illness likely played an important role in the genres and types of writing that Pilkington felt able to attempt or chose to focus her time on. Her lesser-known but incredibly plentiful periodical contributions to the Lady’s Monthly Museum and the Lady’s Magazine, her charming book of comedic riddles, Amusing recreations; or a collection of charades and riddles on political characters, and various subjects, and her desperate entry into novel writing (as a more popular literary form to seek to profit off of during a time of dire financial need), are all examples of the genres and forms that Pilkington engaged with—though they tend to be less well documented and not as closely tied to her biography (as it is currently available in resources like the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) in comparison to her many educational texts for children.
¹ Pilkington signed her first published work as “Mrs. J Pilkington'' after her husband's (John Pilkington) first initial. This appears to be the only instance where Pilkington uses her husband’s name in her publications.
Pilkington’s Letters and Historical Beauties
During the first of several periods of prolonged, career-defining illness, Pilkington’s 1810 letter to Charles Sharpe, one of her periodical and print publishers, references three of her literary productions; Pilkington cites two of her contemporaneous periodical contributions to the Museum and one of her earliest didactic works for the education of youth, closing her letter with the question, “I likewise intreat you to inform me whether I am likely to derive any benefit from Historical Beauties.” Originally published twelve years prior in 1798, A Mirror for the Female Sex. Historical Beauties for Young Ladies. Intended to Lead the Female Mind to the Love and Practice of Moral Goodness. Designed Principally for the Use of Ladies' Schools. By Mrs. Pilkington. Ornamented with Thirty-four Engravings, Beautifully Cut on Wood, was one of her earliest publications. Historical Beauties can be remembered and analyzed as Pilkington’s first clear expression of her potentially controversial views on the lacking educational merit and rigour in the late eighteenth century standards for female children’s education. As it combats the “showy” and appearance-centered female education that Pilkington disparaged and sought to rectify, Historical Beauties exists as an attempt to both create a historical resource of applicable selected materials and to foster a well-rounded educational standard for girls that focused on inspiring a “taste for mental excellence” in her audience (Historical Beauties ix). During this first onset of illness and increased financial uncertainty in 1810, Pilkington’s continued interest in Historical Beauties implies that she maintained a firm belief in this text’s historical, literary and educational merit, and its ability to supplement her waning income. In a letter to Charles Symmons (penned four months before her communication with Sharpe), Pilkington writes, “I am rendered incapable of making the slightest Literary exertion; in fact, it is with the utmost difficulty I am capable of expressing my sentiments upon this [letter],” thus highlighting the impact of her illness on her writing pursuits (“Mrs. Mary Pilkington* 1766-1839 (Nee Hopkins)” Nineteenth Century Collections Online 20). Without the ability to write during this period of infirmity, Pilkington hoped to gain by the reprinting of her previously published works. Even though Pilkington’s aforementioned letter to Sharpe hints at her unfulfilled desires for increased compensation for her editorial work on The Lady's Monthly Museum, the release of a new edition of Historical Beauties in 1811 by Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe may have provided Pilkington a small amount of compensation that year.
Print History, Paratext, and Allography in Historical Beauties
Historical Beauties was first published in 1798 by Ann Vernor and Thomas Hood, marking the beginning of a long relationship between author and firm. As Pilkington’s first foray into authorship and print in 1796 followed her employment as a governess, wherein she was “resolved to convert those talents which had been cultivated for Amusement, into the Means of Support” for herself and her mother, we see that the initial publication of Historical Beauties occurred very early in her career, unlike most of her other popular works published between 1800 and 1815 (“Mrs. Mary Pilkington” 5). Though none of Pilkington’s publications in 1796 and 1797 appear to have ever been reprinted, new editions of Historical Beauties were reprinted in 1799 (this year saw the publication of a British and an American edition), in 1800 (in Dublin), and again in 1804 and 1811 in London (“Pilkington, Mary” WPHP). Being unable to confirm Pilkington’s copyright ownership over Historical Beauties, the potential for compensation from her London reprints is somewhat unknown. While the reprinting of her work outside of London would not have generated further income for Pilkington, it seems worthwhile to consider the reach of one of her most reprinted didactic works outside of the London book trades sphere. The textual differences between these varying editions appear to be slight; however, many paratextual changes can be seen between the editions, highlighting the freedom that American and Dublin publishers retained to adjust the paratextual or spatial aspects of a reprinted work. Though every edition was published in duodecimo (12mo) format, for example, the total pagination and the length and width of the physical copies did not remain consistent (WPHP).
The first edition of Historical Beauties was published “with Thirty-four Engravings, Beautifully Cut on Wood,” and throughout the text engravings function, much like the epigraphs she chose to display at the beginning of each section, as a way for Pilkington to center her reader around each specific human virtue she sought to present. The number of included engravings shifts in each subsequent edition of Historical Beauties; by the first 1799 London reprint, the number was increased to thirty-seven engravings. The American edition, which was also published in 1799, was printed without the frontispiece that had been included in each previous edition and only contained small engravings at the end of each section: these American engravings appear very simple and lack the same level of artistic skill in comparison to the greater number of detailed engravings in previous London editions (see Figure 1). Moving chronologically forward, the text’s 1800 (Dublin) edition chose not to specify the number of engravings on the title page, as was previously done, and states only, “Ornamented with Engravings”; examining this particular edition reveals that the engravings appear only at the beginning of each new section, or chapter, resulting in a total of seventeen engravings, notably less than previous editions. The 1804 London reprint contains thirty engravings but excludes the frontispiece—which was a visual representation of the story of Paulina, wife of Seneca (whom Pilkington often quoted and clearly admired for the way her commitment “to die with the object of her affection” exemplified Pilkington’s notion of “Fortitude” as an important virtue)—that was previously included in previous editions by the same publishers (Historical Beauties 81). The engravings were often very clearly representational of the theme of each virtue that Pilkington represented, such as the engraving for “Fraternal and Sisterly Love” which displays two young siblings leaning against each other for comfort in front of an idyllic country home. Curiously, the last engraving used in the first edition, found at the very end of the “Passion and Anger” section of Historical Beauties, is employed as the first engraving offered in the 1804 edition. This specific engraving (see Figure 2) displays a woman violently hitting a man over the head, sending his hat flying as he tries to step away, fittingly complimenting the negative examples of human “Passion and Anger” that Pilkington offers. This engraving seems somewhat out of place at the beginning of the 1804 edition, wherein the passionate image is juxtaposed against Pilkington’s assertion on the importance of history to improving the moral virtue of youth. The lack of a digitization of the 1811 edition leaves the frequency of engravings used unknown; but because it was another London edition, it seems plausible to assume engravings were involved.
The artist or craftsman behind the detailed engravings included in the London editions of Historical Beauties cannot be credibly determined because of inconsistencies between reprints and a general lack of written credit offered to the creator of a work’s engravings. Nonetheless, the British Library is one of several sources that suggests that the engravings were produced by Thomas Bewick, author of the acclaimed work, The History of British Birds, a work that is still well known today for its appearance in Jane Eyre (A Mirror for the Female Sex. Historical beauties for young ladies, etc. [With vignettes by T. Bewick.]). Another reference to Thomas Bewick’s possible work on Pilkington’s text can be found in The Bookmart: A Monthly Magazine of Literary and Library Intelligence, where Bewick’s name is listed before Pilkington’s own in the entry for the 1804 edition of Historical Beauties (96). However, The Bookmart incorrectly ascribes this work to “Mr. Pilkington,” calling into question the validity of the information in this source. Without any direct textual evidence to prove that Bewick’s engravings appear in Historical Beauties, the assumption of his involvement remains speculatory. The possibility of Bewick’s involvement is further complicated by his focus on woodcuts, rather than engravings as Historical Beauties labels its illustrations, and by the likely costly fee to use the work of such an acclaimed craftsman.
Further paratextual differences between the six published editions of Historical Beauties can be seen in the significant and labour-intensive changes to typography. While most editions received slight changes to their title, such as the omission of A Mirror for the Female Sex from the title of the 1800 Dublin edition, and some general resetting of type or formatting (formatting changes are particularly visible within the “Table of Contents” and at the end of each section), the most fascinating changes occur in the text’s usage of the long-s allograph (written as ‘ſ’). Lyda Fens-De Zeeuw and Robin Straaijer’s article, “Long-s in Late Modern English Manuscripts,” notes that it was a “generally accepted fact that the use of long-s...was discontinued in English printing at the close of the eighteenth century,” and cites the root of this change to have grown from “the printers’ wishes to simplify their type-settings” (319). The employment of the long-s in Pilkington’s publications of Historical Beauties largely follows the chronological trend mentioned by Zeeuw and Straaijer. The long-s is featured in the 1798 and 1799 London editions, and appears, for the last time, in the 1800 Dublin edition. Knowing that the sole 1799 American edition of Historical Beauties utilized extremely rudimentary engravings and did not implement the long-s suggests that American printers and publishers were comparatively more exempt from rigid typographical standards than their English counterparts, and again underscores the prevailing desire to simplify and economize the printing process. In keeping with the changing typographical trends that characterized the London book trades at the end of the eighteenth century, the majority of Pilkington’s print publications after 1800 no longer utilized the long-s; however, the continuance of this allograph in her personal, handwritten communication occurs in all of her preserved letters until 1825, the year of her death. Pilkington’s personal preference for the long-s throughout the first quarter of the nineteenth century defies the shift to the short-s in printing practices by firms seeking to dissociate themselves from a stylistic element quickly becoming archaic.
Another paratextual effect that Pilkington uses in Historical Beauties can be seen in the text’s many epigraphs. A slightly altered quote from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, “When such a specious Mirror’s set before ye, you needs must see yourselves” graces the title page of the first and most other editions.² Epigraphs are also implemented at the beginning of each section of Historical Beauties. Under a repeating heading entitled “Sentiments,” Pilkington includes one to three quotes, most often from Seneca, the Roman Philosopher included in her section on mental and moral “Fortitude,” or from the bible, as well as one quote each from Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, and Henry Fielding. On a few occasions, her epigraph is not attributed to an author, suggesting that she may have written those few herself. Pilkington’s choice of epigraphs would have encouraged her reader to think of intertextual connections to the moral themes between her work and the works she referenced and may have shown her to be a well-versed, intelligent educator and author to her readers. Historical Beauties also includes a dedication, entitled “To Superiors of Female Seminaries,” a preface, which begins with a quote from Samuel Johnson and goes on to cite Pilkington’s inspiration for this work in Dodd’s Beauties of History, and an introduction. Without the context and influence of the introduction in Historical Beauties, this work could be considered largely non-fiction. Pilkington’s choice to create a fictional narrator with a family and young children gives Pilkington’s subsequent explanations of historical figures a storytelling quality. In the introduction, Lady Stanley, the fictionalized narrator, explains to her daughters, Emily, Louisa, and Charlotte, that she has compiled historical examples of vice and virtue to form an educational volume that she presents to her daughters as a new-years gift. Lady Stanley’s actions to ‘create’ this work mirror what Pilkington would have literally done throughout her writing process, but there are some striking differences between author and narrator in this work. Pilkington's choice to write as a mother of three children appears to be a layered decision considering that Pilkington remained childless her whole life and that she was the only surviving member of her family’s trio of daughters. Pilkington’s decision to write a lengthy dedication, preface, and introduction for Historical Beauties seems somewhat unusual when examining many of her other works, which either move directly from the title page to the first chapter or include a much more brief version of one of the above sections of front matter. Pilkington’s epigraphs and preface put her views on children’s education and what facets of history she considered to be most worth remembering (which in the case of Historical Beauties can be seen as any historical occurrence that displayed an example of or against moral and virtuous action) in conversation with much more exalted literary and philosophical figures; while this style of reference to the work of famed writers was commonly employed at this time, it is still interesting to consider the way that Pilkington creates a collaborative relationship with her quoted writers in order to contextualize and position Historical Beauties as a more complex, feminized reading of history than may be expected from a simplified, and heavily excerpted work of history for youth audiences.
² The spelling of “specious” is likely a small error and was meant to be “spacious.” Pilkington changes Shakespeare’s text from “see himself” to “see yourselves” to be more suitable in her work addressed to “Young Ladies,” as the title states (Antony and Cleopatra V. I).
Works Cited
The Bookmart: A Monthly Magazine of Literary and Library Intelligence, Devoted to the Individual Interest of the Public in the Purchase, Exchange, Or Sale of Books, Old, Fine, Rare, Scarce and Out-of-the-way, Both American and Foreign. Volumes I-III. Bookmart Publishing Company, 1883, google.ca/books/edition/The_Bookmart/dhISAAAAIAAJ.
Fens-De Zeeuw, Lyda, and Robin Straaijer. “Long-s in Late Modern English Manuscripts.” English Language and Linguistics, vol. 16, no. 2, 2012, pp. 319–338., doi:10.1017/S136067431200010X. Accessed Nov. 9, 2021.
Pilkington, Mary. A Mirror for the Female Sex. Historical beauties for young ladies, etc. [With vignettes by T. Bewick.]. British Library, 1799, explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP- ALL:BLL01016900687.
Pilkington, Mary. Mrs. Mary Pilkington* 1766-1839 (Nee Hopkins). n.d. MS Archives of the Royal Literary Fund: Archives of the Royal Literary Fund 256. World Microfilms. Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Gale Document Number: AEMUVC545227217, link.gale.com/apps/doc/ AEMUVC545227217/NCCO?u=sfu_z39&sid= bookmark-NCCO&xid=d59b6555&pg=11. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.
"Pilkington, Mary" The Women's Print History Project, 2019, Person ID 2006, https://womensprinthistoryproject.com/person/2006. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021.
