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The L 1\. DIE s Di1ry : o R, THE 7 ,,\'olnlll1 s AL ~{A NA C K, For the Year of our LoaD, 171$­ BciHI? d~r.. l'hird Ycar aftcr 1. J) it. , ..YE. A .: Containlng many Delightful and Ent~inlnl PlnicuJan,· peculiarly adapted for the Uee and Diveriion of the F i\ I R~,S E. X. Being the:: Twellrh .'\ 7, \t A N A C Kever Publijbtd of that kirid. ------.------' , Printed by,. WiU,. fOr the Compmy ofIt.",. THE LADIES'DIARYAND THE EMERGENCE OF THE ALMANAC FOR WOMEN, 1704-1753 by Anna Miegon THESIS SUBMITIED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Department of English © Anna Miegon 2008 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2008 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Anna Miegon Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title ofThesis: The Ladies'Diaryand the Emergence of the Almanac for Women, 1704-1753 Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Tom Grieve Chair, Associate Professor of English Dr. Betty Schellenberg Professor of English Dr. Julie Crawford Associate Professor of English Colwnbia University, N.Y. Dr. Carole Gerson Professor of English Dr. WiUeen Keough Internal External Examiner Assistant Professor of History Dr. Isobel Grundy External Examiner Professor Emeritus of English University ofAlberta, Edmonton Date Defended/Approved: 11 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the "Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Revised: Fall 2007 ABSTRACT The almanac genre was immensely popular throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Yet published almanacs for women were nonexistent at the turn of the eighteenth century. This dissertation, drawing on archival research undertaken in Great Britain and North America, foregrounds The Ladies' Diary, a pioneering almanac for women, from its founding in 1704 until 1753, a period when the publication's character and influence were established. Though scholars increasingly acknowledge the significance of almanacs as cultural catalysts, they have rarely attended to the eighteenth-century almanac for women. My examination contextualizes the genre broadly according to its instructional, creative, and social functions. The Diary was one of the longest running publications of the eighteenth century, allowing for the development of an interactive mode of editorship and of reader agency, and the popularization of subject matter such as the enigma poem. The Diary's expansion of audience and content enabled women, among other contributors, to mark their presence as almanac readers, writers, and even self-reflexive editors. While most critics of this almanac have discussed its public value as a mathematical magazine, the Diary invites a more multifaceted interpretation. My Introduction presents the scholarly foundation and context surrounding the emergence of the almanac for women that serves as the framework for this thesis. Chapter One attends to seventeenth-century precursors of the Ladies' Diary, astrological and burlesque almanacs that incorporated discursive female tropes. Early almanacs by women are also examined here. Chapter Two introduces the Diary in relation to public perceptions of the almanac genre, underscoring its originator's innovative editorial methodology (1704­ 1713). The chapter also invokes eighteenth-century periodicals for comparison and to demonstrate patterns ofinfluence. Chapter Three focuses on the editorial shifts within the 111 Diary that led to its expanded and then compromised cultural capital (1714-1753). It also explores the complex position of the female ahnanac editor (1744-1753). Chapter Four studies the construction of the Diary's audience and traces its actual readers. It then analyzes the readers' favored genre, the enigma. The dissertation concludes with an overview of the originality and significance of the Diary. Keywords: The Ladies' Diary; women's ahnanacs; English ahnanacs; English periodicals; readership; popular culture lV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the research and writing process, my thesis benefited from the advice and encouragement ofnwnerous scholars, archivists, librarians, laboratory administrators, friends, and family. Above all, special thanks are due to my Senior Supervisor, Professor Betty Schellenberg, whose consistent support of my project from its earliest stages of research and whose meticulous readings of my thesis have enabled me to attain the highest academic standards. I also wish to express my deepest appreciation to Professor Schellenberg for generously sharing her expertise with me and for her much-needed inspiration. I would like to thank the readers of my thesis, Professors Julie Crawford and Carole Gerson, and my examiners, Professors Isobel Grundy and Willeen Keough, for their constructive observations. I am indebted to Daniel Say from the Simon Fraser University Library Map Room for his assistance with my research into eighteenth-century British localities and their name variants. I wish to warmly thankJasper Stoodley from the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University who introduced me to using ArcGIS for my map production and gave me access to the Spatial Information Systems Laboratory. I am also grateful to Stefan Lorimer for his assistance with map formatting. I give my thanks for fmancial support to the Social Sciences and Hwnanities Research Council of Canada and the Department of English at Simon Fraser University. My research and conference trips would not have been possible without the nwnerous fellowships, awards, and funds granted by the University. I would like to thank the following institutions for giving me access to their books, manuscripts, medals, and archives: The Ashmolean Musewn ofArt and Archeology at v Oxford, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the British Library in London, the Guildhall Library in London, the Library Company ofPhiladelphia, the Library of the Worshipful Stationers' and Newspaper Makers' Company in London, the Lilly Library at Indiana University, the Simon Fraser University Library, St. John's College at Oxford, the University ofBirmingham Library, and the University ofBritish Columbia Library. I wish to acknowledge the kind research assistance of the archivists, librarians and staffof these institutions. In particular I thank Alessia Balis, Elizabeth Crowley, James Green, Robin Myers, and Ruth Ogden. Without the encouragement of my parents and my brother this thesis could not have been successfully completed. I also express my heartfelt gratitude to my husband, Tadeusz, for his endless support. Moreover, the interest ofmy friends in my work has been invaluable and I thank them wholeheartedly for their kindness and sympathy. I would especially like to thank Edith Friskney for her genealogical assistance. V1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page to The Ladies'Diary; or, The Woman's Almanackfor 1715 frontispiece APPROVAL ii ABSTRACT iii ACKN"OWLEDGMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF FIGURES x EDITORS OF THE LADIES'DIARY(1704-1753) xi A NOTE ON CITATIONS xii INTRODUCTION 1 The Printed Ahnanac and the Forces behind Its Production: Frames for the Study of The LAdies' Diary 1 The "most popular book in the English language": Defmitions, Types, and Functions of Ahnanacs 2 The Growing Interest in the Ahnanac: Scholarship on the Almanac Genre and The LAdies' Diary 7 "New forms of professional behavior"; The Concept and Function of the Ahnanac Editor 15 "A properly female accomplishment": Women's Education in the Eighteenth Century 22 CHAPTER

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