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Creator
Edgeworth, Maria, 1768-1849
Call number
Pforz MS; CPS 181335
Physical description
20 items
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Maria Edgeworth manuscript material, Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library
Repository
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Access to materials
Restricted access. Request an in-person research appointment.

Maria Edgeworth was an Anglo-Irish novelist and educator. The collection consists primarily of correspondence dating between 1813 and 1844. It also includes one poem and a substantial fragment of one short story.

Biographical/historical information

Best known for her pioneering historical novels such as Castle Rackrent (1800), Maria Edgeworth remains a significant figure in the history and development of the British novel. Edgeworth also wrote children's literature and co-authored several works with her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth.

Scope and arrangement

The Maria Edgeworth manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings and correspondence. The writings comprise one holograph poem and a substantial fragment of her short story "Garry Owen, or, The snow woman." The correspondence dates between 1813 and 1844 and deals mostly with her personal life and literary career. Correspondents include John Bowring, politician, diplomat and writer; Anna Maria Hall, née Fielding, Irish-born writer and wife of Samuel Carter Hall, editor; John Abel Smith, MP for Chichester and Midhurst, and several others.

The Maria Edgeworth manuscript material is arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Custodial history

The letter to Mary Hunter was acquired by Carl H. Pforzheimer (1879-1957) in 1950. Six letters and the larger portion of the short story "Garry Owen" were acquired under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Foundation in the 1960s and 1970s, at auction and through individual dealers. Since the Pforzheimer Collection's 1986 move to the New York Public Library, its Edgeworth holdings have grown steadily through purchase at auction and through individual dealers. Because the Pforzheimer Collection collects actively, its holdings may grow in the future as items become available.

Processing information

Finding aid created and imported into ASpace by Timothy Gress in January 2026.

Related Material

The Pforzheimer Collection holds a substantial collection of first and early editions of Edgeworth's published work. The Pforzheimer Collection also holds the letterbook of the publisher Joseph Johnson, which contains a 5 October 1795 letter from Johnson to Maria Edgeworth and four letters from Johnson to Richard Lovell Edgeworth (published in The Joseph Johnson Letterbook, edited by John Bugg (Oxford University Press, 2016)). Additional printed and manuscript material by Edgeworth can be found in the Berg Collection, the Rare Book Division, and the General Research Division.

Using the collection

Location

Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Third Floor, Room 319

Access to materials

Restricted access. Request an in-person research appointment.