Dorothy Osborne: Letters to Sir William Temple, 1652-54 : Observations on Love, Literature, Politics and Religion (Early Modern Englishwoman 1500-1750: Contemporary Editions)

As attested to by scholars from Macaulay via Virginia Woolf to more recent critics, the letters of Dorothy Osborne (b. 1627) are not only the most elegant, but are also the most consistently readable in the language. In this revised and updated edition of her letters to the man to whom she would propose and later marry, Kenneth Parker presents, along with transcriptions of the letters themselves, their publication history, and an in-depth exploration of the political, social, literary and critical contexts surrounding them. Osborne's letters offer sharp-sighted comments on political and cultural events of her time. As told by Parker, the story of their creation, transmission and preservation offers an insight into the mind of a remarkable woman whose actions provide revealing insights into, and materials for, the study of the politics of culture in one of the key moments of transformation in England.