Opie (Amelia) 7 Autograph Letters signed, 1814 - 39, conversational letters to her cousin Thomas John Alderson & Mrs Carr; 4 Autograph Poems signed, manuscript, 1816-29; and a quantity of others, including manuscript notes and correspondence from her...

Opie [née Alderson] (Amelia, novelist and poet, 1769-1853) 7 Autograph Letters signed "Amelia Opie" or "AO", (6 to her cousin Thomas John Alderson & 1 to Mrs Carr), 19pp. most with address panels, 4to & 8vo, Earlham, Norwich & London, 18th December 1814 - 39, conversational letters to her cousin, including: on her Quaker faith, "Joseph & I walked to meeting (quaker's meeting)... I am glad to make an excuse to go to hear Priscilla [Priscilla Wakefield (1750-1832), author and philanthropist; mother of Elizabeth Fry]... she preached a fine sermon today..."; her clothes, "I want to know whether thou couldst endure me in a morning dress or pelisse of ye Waterloo blue - I have a passion for it ever since I saw Miss Bailey's..."; and poetry, "As I am apt to plague myself after I sent ye verses I took alarm & thought Mrs B[ingham] might think I took a liberty in sending her complimentary verses- still they are so true..."; 4 Autograph Poems signed mostly to her cousin Thomas John Alderson, manuscript, 10pp., including: "Lines written after sleeping in the yellow garret at Earlham [Hall] now usually occupied by J.J. Gurney", 1816-29; and a quantity of others, including manuscript notes, Journey to Brussels, correspondence from her cousins, the Brigg family etc., folds, browned, some tears, v.s., v.d., 19th century (c. 100 pieces).

⁂ An interesting collection of letters and other material from a prominent 19th century novelist and poet. "In 1830 the Edinburgh Review placed Opie with Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen among the major women novelists of the previous three decades, and defined her particular 'province' as 'the passions' and 'the exhibition of their workings' (EdinR, 51, July 1830, 450)." (Oxford DNB). However, in later years her reputation dwindled as her work was seen to be both mawkish and sentimental. "Late twentieth-century historical and contextual research has initiated new understanding of the complexity and originality of her fiction and poetry." - Oxford DNB.