Women in the Literary Market 1800-1900

The Gift Annual
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Published annually and intended as Christmas and New Year's presents, gift books typically contained collections of improving essays, sentimental poetry, and expensive engravings. Bound in luxurious and brightly colored bindings, gift annuals became a publishing phenomenon in England in the 1830s.

Gift books were written largely by women for a female audience, and offered a socially acceptable and well paid venue for women to publish their writings.

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[top] The Book of Beauty or, Regal Gallery. Edited by the Countess of Blessington. London: D. Bogue, 1849. [bottom] Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap-Book. London & Paris: Fisher, Son & Co., 1848.
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continue tour

introduction
early role models
entering the literary market
learned poets
getting into print
charlotte bronte and george eliot
sin and sensation
new women
education
journalism
activism
L.T. Meade
the three volume format
credits
home
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