Robertson, Ben. Elizabeth Inchbald's Reputation: A Publishing and Reception History. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2013.



Elizabeth Inchbald's Reputation: A Publishing and Reception History is a publishing and reception history of the complete works of Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821). This project aims to establish the extent of Inchbald’s reputation by cataloguing the publications of her works and outlining responses to her work over the past two centuries. The project covers the score of plays Inchbald wrote, her two novels, and her literary criticism. As an author who lived during a historical period in which women writers were considered, at best, frivolous or, at worst, immoral, Inchbald worked carefully to mold her own reputation in conservative, dignified terms. As a practicing Catholic living in an intolerant atmosphere of Anglican anxiety over challenges to the official church and government, she had even more incentive to present a public image that was eminently moral and that—at least ostensibly—supported established, conservative codes of conduct. In reality, however, Inchbald seems to have held liberal views, and critics often classify her with radical Jacobin writers like William Godwin. Through its examination of Inchbald’s publishing and reception history, this project demonstrates the success Inchbald achieved in crafting her own reputation as the dignified “Mrs. Inchbald.” The project also provides a clear sense of what it meant to be a woman writer in Romantic Britain (roughly 1780 to 1830).