{"product_id":"memoirs-of-laetitia-pilkington-volume-i-paperback","title":"Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington: Volume I - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eA. C. Elias\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the first scholarly edition of the \u003ci\u003eMemoirs of Laetitia Pilkington\u003c\/i\u003e (1709?-1750), a poet, ghostwriter, and protégée of Jonathan Swift and the playwright\/stage manager Colley Cibber. Swift's first biographer by virtue of her lively portrayals of him, Pilkington remains the best chronicler of the great satirist's private life while he was at the height of his influence and creativity. Offering as well an account of Pilkington's own tumultuous and unconventional life, the Memoirs caused a scandal when they first appeared, owing to their details about her divorce and the many would-be Lotharios (most of them married) who subsequently pestered her with their attentions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOriginally appearing in three volumes between 1748 and 1754, the Memoirs have been periodically reprinted and are often quoted by scholars in different disciplines. Until now, however, the work has not received serious editorial attention. In this edition, A. C. Elias Jr. has established for the first time a critical text based on the earliest and most definitive printings, which Pilkington and her son oversaw. For the first time there are explanatory notes that identify the many veiled or anonymous figures in the text and establish the reliability of each anecdote about them. Other new features include an index, a census of early editions, a full bibliography, and a chronology. This edition is produced in a two-volume format, the first comprising the actual \u003ci\u003eMemoirs\u003c\/i\u003e, and the second the commentary. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eReaders are at last in a position to understand exactly what Pilkington is saying in her \u003ci\u003eMemoirs\u003c\/i\u003e--and what she may be suppressing in the process. They can now approach Pilkington's Swift with confidence at each step and appreciate her rendering of the many other real-life personages who populate her disarmingly breezy narrative: bishops, scientists, and statesmen; authors, artists, and printers; and assorted rogues, wits, bawds, and eccentrics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMore than any other early eighteenth-century woman writing in English, says Elias, Pilkington remains accessible to readers today. As a portrayal of Swift, as the recollections of a woman making her way in the male-dominated world of letters, as a source of Irish and English cultural and historical minutiae, and as a delightfully gossipy poke at social pretense, Pilkington's \u003ci\u003eMemoirs\u003c\/i\u003e are a classic of her era.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 412\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.92 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 15, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50618910802168,"sku":"9780820382296","price":69.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0698\/5629\/7208\/files\/tWm3gtNEha9780820382296.webp?v=1790193074","url":"https:\/\/barneysbooksellers.com\/products\/memoirs-of-laetitia-pilkington-volume-i-paperback","provider":"Barney's Book Sellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}