Papers by Patrick Spedding
Approaches to Teaching the Works of Eliza Haywood, ed. Tiffany Potter. Series: Approaches to Teaching World Literature., 2020
[Draft of an essay published February 2020] In this essay, I examine the broad correlation betwee... more [Draft of an essay published February 2020] In this essay, I examine the broad correlation between the increased access to Haywood’s works and the increase in the scholarship on those works, providing an account of the multiplying forms of access to Haywood’s works over the last century and the increasing volume of scholarship that has become available on those works since the 1980s. While the broad correlation of access to scholarship is clear, it is, however, incomplete. For a handful of Haywood’s works, increased access has not led to an increase in scholarship. My analysis of the distribution of scholarship suggests that the primary reason for the imperfect correlation of access to scholarship may be that there is a general bias among teachers, students, and scholars toward Haywood’s prose fiction and periodicals over her drama, nonfiction, and many translations.
Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 2017
[Draft of an article published in Eighteenth-Century Fiction]
A series of printed images and o... more [Draft of an article published in Eighteenth-Century Fiction]
A series of printed images and ornaments greatly influenced eighteenth-century conceptions of Eliza Haywood as an author. In this article, I build on the work of Janine Barchas and Sarah Creel, exploring the ways in which Haywood was visually represented in editions of her works. I consider the role played by Haywood and her publishers in establishing a series of authorial eidolons (personas or avatars). Drawing on images not previously discussed by Haywood scholars, bibliographical information on ornament usage, and contemporary reader-responses to images and ornaments, I argue for a renewed focus on Haywood as the author of Love in Excess (1720) and a greater focus on reader-responses to Haywood’s works.
Notes and Queries, 2016
This essay corrects my 2004 claim that The History Miss Leonora Meadowson (1788) in comprised of ... more This essay corrects my 2004 claim that The History Miss Leonora Meadowson (1788) in comprised of a "miscellaneous collection of manuscript material" written by Eliza Haywood. It is now clear that all four stories printed in Leonora Meadowson had been previously published, and two of them were reprinted from sources that post-date Haywood’s death. Although there are intriguing connections to Aaron Hill in the stories in this collection, Haywood did not write "The History of Melinda Fairfax," "The History of an Italian Gentleman and a Mahometan Slave" or "Cornaro and the Turk."
Australian Humanities Review, 2014
1650–1850: Ideas, Æsthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era, Vol. 18. ed. Kevin L. Cope, Jan 1, 2011
This 27-page essay, based on two 1744 advertisements for "The genuine Household Goods of Mrs. Eli... more This 27-page essay, based on two 1744 advertisements for "The genuine Household Goods of Mrs. Eliza Haywood," identifies the exact location, and interior arrangement of Haywood's Covent-Garden house and shop at the "Sign of Fame," as well as suggesting a likely value of those goods. The essay uses other, recently-discovered advertisements to extend our knowledge of Haywood's publishing and book selling activities at this time, and to revise the information provided in Spedding's Bibliography of Eliza Haywood (2004).
[See also my blog entry on a view of Haywood's house and shop: http://patrickspedding.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/eliza-haywoods-house-in-great-piazza.html]
Fair Philosopher: Eliza Haywood and the Female Spectator, Jan 1, 2006
This essay examines a wide range of empirical evidence in an attempt to establish the popularity ... more This essay examines a wide range of empirical evidence in an attempt to establish the popularity of Eliza Haywood's Female Spectator, comparing it with a range of competing literary journals (such as Samuel Johnson's Rambler). The evidence suggests that, while The Female Spectator was quite successful, it was not as popular as many of the best-known literary journals from the eighteenth-century.
This essay provides evidence (copyright receipts) that Eliza Haywood and William Hatchett transla... more This essay provides evidence (copyright receipts) that Eliza Haywood and William Hatchett translated Crébillon Fils's The Sopha in 1742, and discusses the implication of this discovery.
William Hatchett [short biography] (2005)
Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin, 1999
In this essay, I announce the discovery of a copy of the last of Eliza Haywood's posthumous publi... more In this essay, I announce the discovery of a copy of the last of Eliza Haywood's posthumous publications: The History of Miss Leonora Meadowson (1788). After surveying the history of this text in Haywood criticism, offering an explanation for its abrupt disappearance in the late eighteenth century, and its fortuitous rediscovery more than two hundred years later, I offer a detailed description of the Fales library copy. [NB: the information in this essay was revised in my Bibliography of Eliza Haywood (2004) and my "Twice-Told Tales in Eliza Haywood’s Leonora Meadowson" (2016)]
In this essay, I offer some personal reflections on the origin and value of Gale-Cengage's "Archi... more In this essay, I offer some personal reflections on the origin and value of Gale-Cengage's "Archives of Sexuality & Gender, Part 3: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century" (ASG3)—an archive comprised of the British Library's previously-secret "Private Case" collection of erotica, plus nearly sixteen hundred books from the New York Academy of Medicine, and nearly one thousand books from the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research. This essay will be published by Gale-Cengage as part of ASG3 in June 2019.
Journal of the History of Sexuality, 2018
[Draft of article published Jan. 2018]
The Potent Ally: Or, Succours from Merryland (1741), a ... more [Draft of article published Jan. 2018]
The Potent Ally: Or, Succours from Merryland (1741), a small collection of erotic works containing three poems in praise on condoms, is it particularly useful to medical historians seeking information on the early history of contraception and prophylaxis. Many of the earliest, and by far the most detailed, accounts of condoms appear in works of literature. Only a few medical writers discussed them openly, and some of those few did so only to explain why they do not work, should not be used, or why it would be wrong to discuss them in detail. As well as offering an analysis of the poems themselves, the present study establishes the date and context in which the poems were composed and how, and when and where they circulated. An edited transcript of a previously-unpublished 1706 poem in praise of condoms is included in an appendix. The study of content and context provides valuable information concerning the way in which condoms were first used, and reflects the sexual practices, beliefs and values in the early eighteenth century. A major finding of this study is that there is a consistent Anglo-Scottish connection among all of the earliest references to condoms, supporting the claim that the word itself may have been an Anglo-Scottish coinage.
Notes & Queries, 2018
In this essay, we announce the discovery of a lost, erotic it-narrative: The Adventures of An Iri... more In this essay, we announce the discovery of a lost, erotic it-narrative: The Adventures of An Irish Smock (1782–83).
Eighteenth-Century Studies, Jan 1, 2011
This essay explores some of the difficulties in conducting research using such scanned text-bases... more This essay explores some of the difficulties in conducting research using such scanned text-bases as Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). As well as providing an account of the origin, scope and limitations of ECCO, Spedding demonstrates the limitations of the search feature by searching for references to condoms.
Script and Print, 2017
In this essay I examine the manuscript catalogues of a modest personal library. The catalogues ar... more In this essay I examine the manuscript catalogues of a modest personal library. The catalogues are of interest not only for their mix of literature, theology, history and science, but also for the evidence they contain of private borrowing in the 1720s and 30s.
Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural History of the Songster, 2017
A general introduction to Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural Hist... more A general introduction to Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural History of the Songster, edited by Paul Watt, Derek B. Scott and Patrick Spedding (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 1–7.
This essay establishes accurate dates for the reviews that appeared in the later issues of the Bi... more This essay establishes accurate dates for the reviews that appeared in the later issues of the Bibliothèque Britannique—especially those in issues delayed by “unfortunate circumstances”—such as the lengthy and important review of Haywood’s Female Spectator which appeared in July 1746.
This article establishes that Thomas Gardner printed fourteen plays by William Shakespeare for Ja... more This article establishes that Thomas Gardner printed fourteen plays by William Shakespeare for Jacob Tonson's The Works of Shakespeare (1735).
The following checklist of printers' ornaments was compiled as part of research undertaken to exp... more The following checklist of printers' ornaments was compiled as part of research undertaken to expand the available information on Thomas Gardner (c. 1712Gardner (c. -1765 and to facilitate the identification and differentiation of works printed by him. (And, by identifying more of his printing, obtaining a better idea of the scope of his activities as a printer and publisher.) 1 Gardner was a relatively minor printer-publisher, with a small stock of ornaments, who is known to have printed fewer than two hundred items. However, he was the printer and publisher of most of Eliza Haywood's later, and most highly-regarded, worksincluding The Female Spectator (1744-1746)-and is of considerable interest to Haywood scholars for this reason. 2 I compiled a very crude catalogue of Gardner's ornament stock in 1995, while preparing my Bibliography of Eliza Haywood (2004). I did so by sketching some of the ornaments used by Gardner (and other printers of works by Haywood) into a notebook that I carried from library to library across Europe and America. These sketches were replaced with photocopies, where possible, as it became clear which ornaments had been owned by each printer. While crude, this method was sufficient for the relatively simple task of identifying a few anonymously-printed works as having likely been printed by Gardner, 3 but it was of little use in the more challenging task of differentiating the many editions of each "Book" in The Female Spectator. The present, much more ambitious, ornament catalogue was undertaken with the latter (still incomplete) task in mind.
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Papers by Patrick Spedding
A series of printed images and ornaments greatly influenced eighteenth-century conceptions of Eliza Haywood as an author. In this article, I build on the work of Janine Barchas and Sarah Creel, exploring the ways in which Haywood was visually represented in editions of her works. I consider the role played by Haywood and her publishers in establishing a series of authorial eidolons (personas or avatars). Drawing on images not previously discussed by Haywood scholars, bibliographical information on ornament usage, and contemporary reader-responses to images and ornaments, I argue for a renewed focus on Haywood as the author of Love in Excess (1720) and a greater focus on reader-responses to Haywood’s works.
See http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-May-2014/spedding.html and http://australianhumanitiesreview.org/2014/05/01/eliza-haywoods-eighteenth-century-readers-in-pennsylvania-and-new-york-appendixes/
[See also my blog entry on a view of Haywood's house and shop: http://patrickspedding.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/eliza-haywoods-house-in-great-piazza.html]
The Potent Ally: Or, Succours from Merryland (1741), a small collection of erotic works containing three poems in praise on condoms, is it particularly useful to medical historians seeking information on the early history of contraception and prophylaxis. Many of the earliest, and by far the most detailed, accounts of condoms appear in works of literature. Only a few medical writers discussed them openly, and some of those few did so only to explain why they do not work, should not be used, or why it would be wrong to discuss them in detail. As well as offering an analysis of the poems themselves, the present study establishes the date and context in which the poems were composed and how, and when and where they circulated. An edited transcript of a previously-unpublished 1706 poem in praise of condoms is included in an appendix. The study of content and context provides valuable information concerning the way in which condoms were first used, and reflects the sexual practices, beliefs and values in the early eighteenth century. A major finding of this study is that there is a consistent Anglo-Scottish connection among all of the earliest references to condoms, supporting the claim that the word itself may have been an Anglo-Scottish coinage.