This is the most comprehensive study of women's letters and letter-writing in early modern England so far undertaken. Drawing on over 3,000 manuscript letters, Daybell shows that letter-writing was a larger and more socially diversified area of female activity than often thought.

• 1: Introduction


• 2: Letters and Letter-Writers


• 3: The Composition of Letters


• 4: Female Literacy and the Conventions of Letter-Writing


• 5: Delivery, Reception, and Reading


• 6: The Functions of Letter-Writing


• 7: Social Relations Inscribed in Correspondence: Authority and Affection


• 8: Marital Correspondence


• 9: Letters of Petition


• 10: Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

James Daybell is Professor of Early Modern British History at Plymouth University, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has authored and acted as editor for a number of books including: The Material Letter in Early Modern England: Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practices of Letter-Writing, 1512-1635 (2012), Women Letter-Writers in Tudor England (2006), and Early Modern Women's Letter-Writing, 1450-1700 (2001). He is currently Co-Director (with Kim McLean-Fiander, University of Victoria, Canada) of the British Academy and Leverhulme funded project 'Women's Early Modern Letters Online, Co-Director (with Svante Norrhem, Lund University) of the AHRC-funded network, 'Gender, Politics and Materiality in Early Modern Europe'. He is also co-presenter and writer of the Histories of the Unexpected Podcast (with Dr Sam Willis), which is hosted on Dan Snow's History Hit Network. His co-authored work, Histories of the Unexpected, will publish later this year.