Amelia Beauclerc (1 January 1790 – 1 March 1820) was a British Gothic novelist. Title page of Amelia Beauclerc's Husband Hunters Vol

Life

Beauclerc's life has been described as "invisible."

Writing

It has taken time to establish a complete bibliography for Beauclerk. Her first two novels, ''Eva of Cambria, or, The Fugitive Daughter'' (1810) and Ora and ''Juliet, or, Influence of First Principles'' (1811), were published by mistake under the name "Emma de Lisle," the

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of another novelist, Emma Parker. Beauclerc's next four novels were published "by the author of," but her final two novels were clearly published under her own name. Six of Beauclerc's eight novels were published with the

Minerva Press Minerva Press was a publishing house, noted for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It was established by William Lane (c. 1745–1814) at No 33 Leadenhall Street, Lon ...

, famous for their sentimental and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

titles. Her interest was more the former; one commentator called her novels "sham Gothic" because they focused more on sentiment than on more thrilling genre elements. In this regard, Beauclerc followed the example of

Ann Radcliffe Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English novelist and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining respectability for G ...

and the tradition of the " female Gothic." During her lifetime Beauclearc received mixed reviews, from the utterly damning to the moderately approving. In the twentieth century, while some of her work has been called "predictably gothic, heavy-handed, or punatively moral" her "best work" has been judged "impressive, focusing on relations between the sexes."Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. ''The Feminist companion to literature in English: women writers from the Middle Ages to the present''. New Haven: Yale UP, 1990, 74.
Internet Archive

Works

*''Eva of Cambria; or, The Fugitive Daughter. A Novel. In Three Volumes. By Emma de Lisle, author of the Soldier's Offspring, &c. &c.'' London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1811. *''Ora and Juliet; or, Influence of First Principles. A Novel. In Four Volumes. By the author of Eva of Cambria, &c''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1811. *''Alinda; or, The Child of Mystery. A Novel. In Four Volumes. By the author of "Ora and Juliet, Castle of Tariffa, &c."'' London: Benjamin and Richard Crosby and Co., 1812. *''The Castle of Tariffa; or, The Self-Banished Man. A Novel. In Four Volumes. By the Author of The Fugitive Daughter, or Eva of Cambria; Ora and Juliet, or Influence of First Principles''. London: Benjamin and Richard Crosby and Co., 1812. * ''Montreithe; or, The Peer of Scotland. A Novel. In Four Volumes''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1814. *''Husband Hunters!!! A Novel. In four volumes. By the author of Montreithe, or The Peer of Scotland''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1816. *''The Deserter. A Novel. In Four Volumes. By Amelia Beauclerc, author of Montreithe, or The Peer of Scotland; Husband Hunters, &c. &c''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1817. * ''Disorder and Order. A Novel. In Three Volumes. By Amelia Beauclerc, Author of Montreithe, or the Peer of Scotland; Alinda, or Child of Mystery; the Deserter; Husband Hunters, &c''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1820.

Etexts

*''The Deserter. A Novel. In Four Volumes. By Amelia Beauclerc, author of Montreithe, or The Peer of Scotland; Husband Hunters, &c. &c''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1817. (Google Books, Vols
1&23&4
* ''Disorder and Order. A Novel. In Three Volumes. By Amelia Beauclerc, Author of Montreithe, or the Peer of Scotland; Alinda, or Child of Mystery; the Deserter; Husband Hunters, &c''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1820. (Google Books, Vol
IIIIII
*''Husband Hunters!!! A Novel. In four volumes. By the author of Montreithe, or The Peer of Scotland''. London: Minerva Press, A. K. Newman and Co., 1816. (Google Books, Vol
IIIIIIIV

Notes

Resources

*"Amelia Beauclerc 1811 - 1820." Accessed 2022-07-15.
Covey
*"Amelia Beauclerc." Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Accessed 2022-07-14.
Orlando
*"Beauclerc, Amelia." The Women's Print History Project, 2019, Person ID 642. Accessed 2022-07-14.
WPHP

External links

*Plot synopsis of 'The Castle of Tariffa; or, The Self-Banished Man'', 1812.
Covey
*Review, with plot synopsis, of ''Alinda; or, The Child of Mystery'' (1812) from ''New Review'', 2 August 1813
Covey
*
Corvey Women Writers on the Web Author's Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauclerc, Amelia 18th-century births 19th-century English writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers English novelists British women novelists