The letters of Dorothy Percy Sidney, Countess of Leicester, dating predominantly from about 1636 until 1643, cover a wide range of issues and vividly illustrate her centrality to her illustrious family's personal and public affairs. This title presents these letters fully transcribed and edited.
Fully transcribed and edited here for the first time, Dorothy Percy Sidney's letters eloquently convey how intensely demanding were the multifaceted roles expected of an aristocratic early modern Englishwoman. This volume contains a biographical and historical introduction, the complete text of her letters to her husband, her correspondence with the Sidney family solicitor, and other family and business letters. Also included are her husband's account of her last moments in 1659, and testamentary directions relating to her will.
Prize: Winner of the Josephine Roberts Edition Prize, awarded by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women in 2011 'Filling in the gaps between the 140 items is a forty-eight page Introduction that focuses on the domestic relationships of this large, well-connected family, a table and family tree indicating all the family members of importance, an eleven-page chronology, and an Appendix listing the eighty books the Countess possessed at her death ... this welcome edition shows how much can be learned from the daily letters of one not very famous woman, married into a distinguished lineage, about court entanglements, marriage negotiations, backstage influences on the public life of aristocrats dedicated (until their disillusionment) to the king's service, and the domestic and financial affairs of a magnate family whose documentary record will doubtless yield further riches, if it continues to be imaginatively interrogated.' The Library 'Both its exacting introduction and its thorough collection and consideration of the letters of Dorothy Percy Sidney make Brennan, Kinnamon, and Hannay's edition an asset to Sidney scholars around the world. Its modernized spellings promise to reveal the importance of Dorothy's writing to all levels of researchers.' Notes and Queries
