The Pickering Masters. The Novels and Selected Works of Maria Edgeworth. Volume 4. Manoeuvring; Vivian

by Maria Edgeworth

Active from the 1790s through the 1840s, the prolific British writer Maria Edgeworth, who was strongly influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, published children's fiction and novels. Many of her novels concern the Irish Rebellion, later events in Ireland, and the lives of Irish people living in England. This 12-volume set presents a number of complete works, the majority of which have been out of print for decades. Marilyn Butler (Rector of Exeter College, Oxford University) provides a lengthy (73-page) introduction to the set, and each volume includes a lengthy introduction by an editor, who also provides annotation for the works that follow. Among the novels: Castle Rackrent, Irish bulls, Manoeuvring, Vivian, four novels that were part of Tales of fashionable life, Belinda, Leonora, Harrington, Ormond, Helen, and all four volumes of Patronage. Of Edgeworth's children's fiction, the editors have selected The parent's assistant and Moral tales for young people. Also included is her substantial work on education, Practical education, short works published as Popular tales and Early lessons, and the play Whim for whim. A comprehensive index is included in v.12. Distributed in the US by Ashgate. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

313 pages, Hardcover

Published March 29, 1999

About the author

Maria Edgeworth was an Anglo-Irish gentry-woman, a daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, born in Oxfordshire and later resettling in County Longford. She eventually took over the management of her father's estate in Ireland and dedicated herself to writing novels that encouraged the kind treatment of Irish tenants and the poor by their landlords.