Full Description
In this, Hannah More's only novel and an early nineteenth-century best-seller, More gives voice to a wealthy twenty-three-year-old bachelor, who styles himself "Coelebs" (unmarried), but seeks a wife. After the death of his father, Coelebs journeys from the north of England to London, where he encounters a fashionable array of eager mothers and daughters before he visits the Hampshire home of his father's friend, Mr. Stanley. Lucilla Stanley, Mr. Stanley's daughter, is both an intellectual and a domestic woman, and Coelebs' ideal partner. In this intelligent novel about the meeting of two minds, More shows the ways in which a couple becomes truly "matched" as opposed to merely "joined."
Along with a critical introduction, this Broadview edition includes a wide selection of historical documents, from reviews, imitations, and sequels of Coelebs in Search of a Wife to related contemporary writings on conduct, courtship, and women's education.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Hannah More: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Cœlebs in Search of a Wife
Appendix A: Contemporary Reviews of Cœlebs in Search of a Wife
The Christian Observer (February 1809)
The London Review (February 1809)
The Monthly Review (February 1809)
The Edinburgh Review (April 1809)
The British Critic (May 1809)
Appendix B: Imitations, Adaptations, and Sequels
From [Medora Gordon Byron], Celia in Search of a Husband (1809)
From Robert Torrens, Cœlibia Choosing a Husband (1809)
From William Mudford, Nubilia in Search of a Husband (1809)
From Cœlebs Married (1814)
Appendix C: Women's Observations on the Education and Conduct of Women
From Mary Wollstonecraft, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787)
From Catharine Macaulay Graham, Letters on Education (1790))
From Maria Edgeworth, Letters for Literary Ladies (1795)
From Hannah More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799)
Appendix D: Contemporary Novels about Courtship and Marriage by Women Writers
From "Prudentia Homespun" [Jane West], The Advantages of Education (1793)
From Amelia Opie, Adeline Mowbray (1804)
From Germaine de Staël, Corinne, or Italy (1807)
Select Bibliography
