ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

There are various portrayals of Elizabeth Craven, the Georgian feminist writer, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.  This one is an engraving based on an earlier painting done by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It shows Elizabeth as a young mother, leaning  affectionately and protectively over one of  her children. It is a Madonna-like pose, but there is enough animation in the face to avoid blandness, and the chin is very determined.       There are also several small, monochrome prints showing her in middle age, when she was married to her second husband, the Margrave of Ansbach. Margravine of Anspach. Engraving published by Richard Phillips 1803. This one appears to be based on a sketch, and was used in a biographical article about her that appeared in a periodical in 1803. The features, shown in three-quarter view, are very clear, and correspond fairly well with earlier portraits, as does the long neck. The expression is cheerful and good-humoured. H...

Author Julia Gasper An interview by Jolanta Ryba  from Oxford Prospect This Question and Answer interview with the well-known historian and  Oxford biographer Julia Gasper , about her latest book, a biography of  Elizabeth Craven . 1. How different was this book about Elizabeth Craven from your previous books? Actually, it was very different, because this is the first time I have written about an English person, and the first time I have written about a woman. Both my previous biographies were of men, and foreign subjects – King Theodore of Corsica, and the  Marquis d’Argens . Having said that,  Elizabeth Craven  is still a very Continental Englishwoman, and I still had to use sources in French and write about places in Germany or further afield. 2. What encouraged you to write about her? Well, I came across her when I was doing the research for my last book about the  Marquis  d’Argens. He ...

                         Elizabeth Craven from a drawing published in 1804. Elizabeth Craven is an important feminist writer of the late Georgian period whose works are not easy to access.  Some of the best have never been reprinted. Others were written in French and have never before been translated into English. This new edition with introduction and explanatory  notes, includes a complete translation of one of her best and most entertaining plays, The Modern Philosopher . Title page of the original edition  It also includes Letters to Her Son, a book in which she protested against unfair laws of marriage, and Verses on the Siege of Gibraltar, an example of her satirical writing. The Modern Philosopher and Other Works by Elizabeth Craven, translated and edited by Julia Gasper. Published by Cambridge Scholars Press, 2017. http://www.cambridgescholars.com/the-modern-philosop...