Coelebs in Search of a Wife.
More’s Evangelical Novel
More, Hannah. Coelebs in Search of a Wife. Comprehending observations on domestic habits and manners, religion and morals. In two volumes. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1808.
2 vols.; 8vo.; endpapers offset; marbled edges, faded; hinges tender; contemporary mottled calf; black leather title labels affixed to spine; stamped in gilt; wear to extremities; light loss to hinges. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition of More’s only novel; with Charlotte Mary Peters bookplate affixed to the pastedown of each volume. Lacking half-title in Volume II, which was not called for in the first volume. Garside and Schowerling 1808:81. The first volume contains twenty-three chapters and lists errata on page 1; the second volume runs through chapter forty-eight and lists the errata on page 471.
Coelebs is described as a parable, “more as a treatise on female manners and education than as a work of fiction” (“More, Hannah”, by S. J Skedd, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, Oxford: OUP, 2004). Skedd explains that More wrote this book specifically for the patrons of a circulating library, who had hitherto only been offered romantic comedies to read; her aim was to offer a more moral work of fiction. Indeed, More’s impetus was not merely to extend the library’s offerings; she had the intent that in publishing the book she would convert readers to an Anglican Evangelical strain of thought. The book was not a critical success, but it went through ten impressions in the first six months, making it More’s most popular and lucrative work; during her lifetime 30,000 copies were sold.
More explains in her Preface that she conceived of the idea to write this book during a vacation she took in the spring, 1808; she was determined to “commit to paper any little circumstances that might arise, and any conversations in which I might be engaged, when the subject was at all important, though there might be nothing particularly new or interesting in the discussion itself” (p. iii). Upon returning from her journey and completing the manuscript, she lent it to a friend who responded with such enthusiasm and confidence, insisting that she publish it, as he was sure that the general reading public would share his opinion. She demurred, and admitted, “Thus I am driven to the stale apology for publishing what perhaps it would have been more prudent to have withheld – the importunity of friends; an apology so commonly unfounded, and so repeatedly alleged, from the days of John Faustus to the publication of Coelebs” (p. v). The result is More’s extended musings on religion, morality and behavior of her fellow countrywomen.
As she reveals early on, her ideal of womanhood comprised of high standards of conduct: “Now according to my notion of ‘household good,’ which does not include one idea of drudgery or servility, but which involves a large and comprehensive scheme of excellence, I will venture to affirm, that let a woman know what she may, yet if she knows not this, she is ignorant of the most indispensible [sic], the most appropriate branch of female knowledge” (p. 2). She continues lauding womanhood and anointing worthy women with omnipotence:
The domestic arrangement of such a woman as filled the capacious mind of the poet resemble, if I may say it without profaneness, those of Providence, whose underagent she is. Her wisdom is seen in its effects. Indeed it is rather felt than seen. It is sensibly acknowledged in the peace, the happiness, the virtue of the component parts; in the order, regularity and beauty of the whole system, of which she is the moving spring. The perfection of her character, as the divine poet intimates, does not arise from a prominent quality, or a shewy talent, or a brilliant accomplishment, but it is the beautiful combination and result of them all. (p. 3)
A reactionary feminist tract, fascinating for its blatant politica
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