Women in the Literary Market 1800-1900

 

Old Maids
horizontal rule
First published in London in 1835, this satirical look at unmarried women demonstrates that women who did not choose the conventional paths of marriage and children were fair targets for ridicule.

Chapter eight explores the phenomenon of "Literary Old Maids." The male author observes:

Hard is the fortune of Literary Maidens. They are eyed suspiciously by their own sex, and avoided by the majority of ours…

horizontal rule
Old Maids, Their Varieties, Characters, and Conditions. New York: C. Shepard, 1835.
horizontal rule

view image

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
Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Cornell University Library

Copyright © 2002 Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections
2B Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853
Phone Number: (607) 255-3530. Fax Number: (607) 255-9524

For reference questions, send mail to: rareref@cornell.edu
If you have questions or comments about the site, send mail to: webmaster.