This collection includes essays on the literary, theatrical and cultural conditions in Britain during the long eighteenth century, centered on the life, work, and world of the writer/actor Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821).

This collection centers on the remarkable life and career of the writer and actor Elizabeth Inchbald (1753–1821), active in Great Britain in the late eighteenth century. Inspired by the example of Inchbald’s biographer, Annibel Jenkins (1918–2013), the contributors explore the broad historical and cultural context around Inchbald’s life and work, with essays ranging from the Restoration to the nineteenth century. Ranging from visual culture, theater history, literary analyses and to historical investigations, the essays not only present a fuller picture of cultural life in Great Britain in the long eighteenth century, but also reflect a range of disciplinary perspectives. The collection concludes with the final scholarly presentation of the late Professor Jenkins, a study of the eighteenth-century English newspaper The World (1753-1756).

A colourful figure of the late eighteenth century, Elizabeth Inchbald ran away as a teenager to become an actress on the London stage. In spite of numerous obstacles and dangers in her path, she persevered in her profession, establishing an exemplary professional reputation. She enjoyed great success as a playwright, producing original farces and hilarious comedies. She also wrote two successful prose romances, A ‘Simple Story’ (1791) and ‘Nature and Art’ (1796), which serve as early examples of the novel of passion, having an impact on the development of the novel in English literature. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Inchbald’s complete works, with numerous illustrations, many rare plays, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Inchbald’s life and works * Concise introductions to the novels and other texts * All the novels, with individual contents tables * Includes the two apocryphal novels ‘Appearance is against Them’ and ‘Emily Herbert’, originally ascribed to Inchbald, though now generally believed to be by another author * Features many plays appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Excellent formatting of the play texts * Rare non-fiction essays on the works of other playwrights * Includes a bonus biography– discover Inchbald’s intriguing life * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Novels Appearance is against Them (1786) Emily Herbert (1786) A Simple Story (1791) Nature and Art (1796) The Plays The Mogul Tale (1784) I’ll Tell You What (1785) Appearance is Against Them (1785) The Widow’s Vow (1786) The Midnight Hour (1787) Such Things Are (1787) Animal Magnetism (1788) The Child of Nature (1788) The Married Man (1789) Next Door Neighbours (1791) Everyone Has His Fault (1793) To Marry, or Not to Marry (1793) The Wedding Day (1794) Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are (1797) Lovers’ Vows (1798) The Wise Man of the East (1799) The Massacre (1833) A Case of Conscience (1833) The Non-Fiction Remarks on Plays The Biography Elizabeth Inchbald by John Joseph Knight Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks

An energetic woman, Inchbald achieved fame as an actress, novelist, playwright and critic. This work includes her eleven surviving diaries, which record Inchbald's social contacts and professional activities, itemize her day-to-day expenditure, and chart the development of affairs such as the Napoleonic Wars and the trial of Queen Caroline.

Elizabeth Simpson Inchbald (1753–1821) was one of the leading literary figures of the late eighteenth century—an actress, a successful playwright and editor of several collections of plays, a popular novelist, and a drama critic. Considered a beautiful, independent woman, Inchbald was much involved in the theatrical, literary, and publishing life of London. Elizabeth Simpson ran away from home at age eighteen to seek fame as an actress in London and quickly married Joseph Inchbald, an actor twice her age. They toured the stage together until his sudden death in 1779. She made her London stage debut a year later, and her writing debut came in 1784 with the play The Mogul Tale; Or, The Descent of the Balloon. Over the next two decades she wrote or adapted twenty-one plays: comedies, farces, and works from French and German, including the version of Kotzebue's Lovers' Vows, later used in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Inchbald's acclaimed first novel, A Simple Story, prefigured the work of later women writers such as Austen. Using material from Inchbald's own pocket books detailing her daily life (she destroyed most of her letters and journals late in her life at the advice of her Catholic confessor) as well as a wealth of other sources, Annibel Jenkins tells for the first time not only the full story of Mrs. Inchbald's life but also provides a fascinating look at the society and politics, both public and private, of London in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Through an examination of her complete works and public response to them, Robertson gauges the extent of Inchbald's reputation as the dignified Mrs Inchbald, as well as providing a clear sense of what it meant to be a female Romantic writer.