Mary E. Mann
Mary Elizabeth Mann, née Rackham, (14 August 1848 – 19 May 1929)[1] was a celebrated English novelist in the 1890s and early 1900s.[2]:5 She also wrote short stories, primarily on themes of poverty and rural English life.[3] As an author she was commonly known as Mary E. Mann.
Mary Elizabeth Mann née Rachham | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 19 May 1929 80) Sheringham, Norfolk, England | (aged
Nationality | English |
Other names | Mary E. Mann |
Occupation | Novellist |
Years active | 1883 – 1918 |
Known for | Chronicling Norfolk Rural Life |
Notable work | The short stories set in the fictional Dulditch |
Life
![](../I/m/The_ruin_of_St_Bartholomew_Heigham%2C_Norwich_(geograph_2103453).jpg)
Mary Rackham was born in Norwich to a merchant family on 14 August 1948.[1][3][4] and she was baptised on 17 September in Heigham Parish Church in Norwich. Little is known about her early years, although Taylor states that she spent much of her childhood in the imposing family residence of Town Close House.[3]
After her marriage on 28 September 1871 to Fairman Joseph Mann, a farmer with 800 acres, she moved to Shropham, Norfolk. Her husband was a churchwarden and A parish guardian; she also became involved with the workhouse, and visited the sick and other unfortunates of the parish, her observations and experiences informing her stories. Sutherland notes that lived in Norfolk her whole life, and wrote about the rural life in East Anglia that she knew so well.[5]
She took up writing in the 1880s in order to relieve the tedium of daily life in what must have been, after her upbringing in Norwich, a remote and uninteresting country village.[6] Her literary efforts were initially guided by Thomas Fairman Ordish, the son of her husband's sister, a literary-minded civil servant who became a notable Shakespearian scholar.[3] Mann published her first novel, The Parish of Hilby (1883) at her own expense, probably on commission.[note 2] At the start of her career, Man could usually get a down-payment of £40, but this increased to £300 when her popularity was at its height.[2]:77 Bently paid Mann £40 for The Lost Estate plus another £35 if they sold more than 500 copies.[2]:82
- Publishing on commission. The author takes the risk, pays the costs of publishing, and the publisher takes a commission on each book sold (again subject to the risk of inflated costs). This is nowadays frowned upon as vanity publishing, but it was regarded as a legitimate form of publishing in the 19th century - this was the system that Jane Austen and many Victorian authors used. The Parish of Hilby was published at Mann's own risk so it was probably published on this basis.[6]
- Publishing on subscription, used more in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where a number of subscribers agree to buy a copy and the money is used to pay for publication. The publisher might be paid a commission on sales. This was the way in which Ryno Greenwall's encyclopaedic Artists and Illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War[9] was published, along with a sponsor to backstop the costs.</ref> and it was well received by the critics.[6] Man refused an offer of £12 from the Family Herald to serialise the book.[2]:73 Kemp notes that her early fiction was published anonymously.[10]
This began a career that spanned more than thirty years during which she published thirty three novels, hundreds of short stories, and fourteen plays, of which at least two were staged in London.[2]:5 Her work was largely focused on the experiences of rural life in Norfolk from labourers to yeoman farmers during the late 19th century agricultural and economic upheaval.[3]
She had four children, one boy and three girls.[11] After her husband's death in 1913, she moved to Sheringham, where she died aged 80. Her grave is in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul, Shropham. Her grave-marker is a carved open book with the epitaph We bring our years to an end, as if it were a tale that is told.[1]
Works
Shropham was renamed 'Dulditch' in her novels, reflecting her view of the village as isolated and bleak. She wrote Tales of Dulditch while living at Manor Farm which inspired her view of rural life during the early 20th century. Formerly regarded as a novelist belonging to the ‘earthy’ rural genre, her short stories in Tales of Victorian Norfolk are grim but authentic accounts of poverty and deprivation. Often described by some as Norfolk's Thomas Hardy, Mann was admired by D. H. Lawrence.[12]
Novels include Mrs Day's Daughters, and The Patten Experiment (1899) where a group of well-meaning middle class folk try to live on a labourer's wage for a week.
Her work has recently been rediscovered as a major contributor to East Anglian literature, championed among others by A. S. Byatt, who in 1998 included her story Little Brother in The Oxford Book of English Short Stories.[13]:93-96 Byatt said that she had been introduced to Mann's writings by D. J. Taylor.[13]:vii Taylor suggests that this is one of the grimmest stories in Victorian fiction. In the story a mother gives the corpse of a still-birth boy to her living children to play with as a doll. [12] Byatt calls the story plain, and brief, and clear and terrible though the narrator's tone is not simple. Byatt goes on to say that Mann is recording, not judging but her telling is spiky with morals and the inadequacy of morals.[13]:xix-xx
Taylor, who wrote the entry for Mann in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in 2004, considers her best work to be not her novels but short fiction written in the 1890s such as Ben Pitcher's Elly, Dora o' the Ringolets and The Lost Housen, arguing them to be the equal of Hardy's but based on a matter-of-fact mood rather than Hardy's "vengeful determinism".[3] These stories are collectively known as the Dulditch stories, and Taylor wrote a foreword to an anthology of thirty two of her Dulditch stories in 2008 as The Complete Tales of Dulditch.[14] Taylor considers that it was Mann's first-hand observation of a community enmired in the 1880s agricultural depression that gives her best work its sheen.[12] Richard King in The Tatler also considered that Mann was a writer whose greatest success lay in her short stories.[15] The Scotsman said of her short stories that . . . Mann, has the talent of making her comedies, and tragedies complete and impressive within brief compass; and most of them have a touch of originality.[16]
Mann's work can be grim and unpleasant. The Times notes that she did not shirk from showing the ugliness of life whether describing the rich or poor.[17] Part of Mann's grimness come from her refusal to sugar-coat reality or ignore the most probable outcomes. The Scotsman said that Mann . . . never evades a logical conclusion. Her personages may not always suggest a very flattering view, of human nature, but such as they are, their fortunes are conducted with a scrupulous regard for probability, and there are no attempts to play tricks with the emotions of the reader, at the expense of his intelligence.[18] The lost heir is a recurring trope in Victorian fiction. G. A. Henty had one of his heroes stolen as a toddler,[note 3] and another lost to his father's family[note 4] but both acquire, through fortunate circumstances, the manners and polish of gentlemen, rather than being what one would expect from their upbringing in the workhouse or as fisher-lads. In contrast, when the lost child is discovered in Mann's The Victim (1917) the child is exactly what her experience of neglect, the workhouse, domestic service, and an unsatisfactory husband could be expected to make her, a foul-mouthed slattern.[18]
Some of Mann's novels continue to be republished.[note 5] In 2005 Eastern Angles Theatre Company used a collection of her characters and stories to create a new play A Dulditch Angel. It was directed by Orla O'Loughlin and written by Steven Canny.[24]
Longer Works by Mann
The following list is based on searches at Jisc Library Hub Discover.[note 6] The list is not necessarily exhaustive. Note that at the time of posting (12 August 2020) there are only two books by Mann on Project Gutenberg, whereas the British Library has eleven titles available online and the Hathi Trust ten, five of which are in common. The republication dates given in the notes are from [2]:224-225.
Ser | Year | Title | Publisher | Pages | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1883 | The parish of Hilby : a simple story of a quiet place | Elliot Stock, London | iv, 351 p., 8º | [note 7] |
2 | 1885 | Confessions of a Coward and Coquette. Being the record of a short period of her life as told by herself. | Ward & Downey, London | 303 p., 8º | [note 8] |
3 | 1886 | Mrs. Peter Howard | Smith, Elder, London | 2 v., 8º | [note 10] in 1904.[32] This story of a young woman married to an odious husband attracted mixed reviews. Truth called it an absolutely nauseous study of vulgarity.[33] The Graphic said: There is a little too much of the tendency to coarseness which so many writers mistake for strength, but this is the only conspicuous note of feebleness in a novel which certainly ranks above the average.[34] The Morning Post says: In short, although it is to be regretted that a more healthy tone does not reign in this tale it shows undeniable proof of the development of its author's talent.[35]Available online at the British Library in two volumes.[36][37]</ref> |
4 | 1889 | A lost estate | Richard Bentley, London | 3 v., 8º | [note 11] |
5 | 1890 | One another's burdens | Richard Bentley & Son, London | 3 v. ([6], 304; [6], 276; [6], 277, [3] p.), 8º | [note 12] |
6 | 1891 | A winter's tale | R. Bentley & Son, London | 2 v., 8º | [note 13] |
7 | 1893 | Perdita | R. Bentley & Son, London | 2 v., 8º | [note 14] |
8 | 1893 | In Summer Shade | H. Henry & Co, London | 3 v., 8º | [note 15] |
9 | 1895 | Susannah | H. Henry & Co, London | viii. 403 p., 8º | [note 16] |
10 | 1896 | There was once a Prince | H. Henry & Co, London | 313 p., 8º | [note 17] |
11 | 1897 | When Arnold comes home | Henry & Co, London | 258 p., 8º | [note 18] |
12 | 1898 | The Cedar star | Hutchinson and Co., London | vi. 347 p., 8º | [note 19] |
13 | 1899 | Moonlight | T. Fisher Unwin, London | vii. 291 p., 8º | [note 20] |
14 | 1899 | Out in Life's Rain | Hutchinson & Co, London | 336 p., 8º | [note 21] |
15 | 1899 | The Patten Experiment | T. Fisher Unwin, London | vii, 307 p., 8º | [note 22] |
16 | 1901 | Among the Syringas | T. Fisher Unwin, London | vi. 297 p., 8º | [note 23] |
17 | 1901 | The mating of a dove | T. Fisher Unwin, London | vi, 295 p., 8º | |
18 | 1902 | Olivia's summer | Methuen, London | v. 300 p., 8º | |
19 | 1902 | The fields of Dulditch | Digby, Long & Co.,, London | 320 p., 8º | [note 24] |
20 | 1903 | Gran'ma's Jane | Methuen, London | vii. 305 p., 8º | [note 25] |
21 | 1904 | It Answered | 'Daily Mail', London | ff. 12, 8º | |
22 | 1905 | Fortune's Cap | Hurst & Blackett, London | 315 p., 8º | |
23 | 1905 | The Parish Nurse | Methuen & Co, London | 309 p., 8º | [note 26] |
24 | 1906 | Rose at Honeypot | Methuen & Co, London | vi, 308 p., 8º. | [note 27] |
25 | 1906 | The Eglamore Portraits | Methuen & Co, London | v, 319 p., 8º | [note 28] |
26 | 1907 | The memories of Ronald Love | Methuen & Co, London | vii, 312 p., 8º. | [91] |
27 | 1907 | The sheep and the goats | Methuen & Co, London | 8º. | [note 29] |
28 | 1908 | A sheaf of corn | Methuen, London | vii, 312 p., 8º | [note 30] |
29 | 1908 | The Heat-Smiter | Methuen & Co, London | 305 p., 8º | |
30 | 1909 | Avenging children | Methuen, London | vii. 310 p., 8º | [note 31] |
31 | 1910 | Astray in Arcady | Methuen & Co, London | [4], 308, 31, [1] p., 8º., 8º | |
32 | 1910 | Bound Together | Mills & Boon, London | v. 302 p., 8º | [note 32] |
33 | 1910 | Little Mrs. Cummin. A comedy in three acts. | Samuel French, London | 97 p., 1 p., 8º | [note 33] |
34 | 1910 | The Visit. A play in one act. | Samuel French, London | 24 p. | [note 34] |
35 | 1911 | There was a Widow | Methuen & Co, London | vi. 309 p., 8º | |
36 | 1912 | Men and Dreams | Mills & Boon, London | v. 312 p., 8º | [note 35] |
37 | 1913 | Mrs. Day's daughters | Hodder & Stoughton, London | 311 p., 8º | [note 36] |
38 | 1913 | Through the window | Mills & Boon, London | 319 p., 8º. | [note 37] |
39 | 1915 | Grandpapa’s granddaughter | Mills & Boon, London | vi, 296 p., 8º. | [note 38] |
40 | 1916 | When a man marries | Hodder & Stoughton, London | 319 p., 8º | [note 39] |
41 | 1917 | The victim | Hodder & Stougton, London | 320 p., 8º | [note 40] |
42 | 1918 | The Pedlar's Pack | Mills & Boon, London | 242 p., 8º | [note 41] |
Notes
- Aldis and Inder calculate that Susannah must only have sold sixteen or seventeen copies, as the royalties at 10% amounted to only 9s 9d.<ref name='Aldis-Inder-2013' group=''>
- At the time, there were five ways in which books might be published:
These were:[7]
- Outright sale of copyright. The publisher took the whole risk, but could make large profits. Jane Austen for example sold the rights of Pride and Prejudice for £110 and saw the publisher make a profit of £450 on the first two editions alone.[8] Sometimes the sale of copyright was limited to a number of copies or a number of years.
- Profit sharing. The publisher runs the risk, although sometimes the author is asked to contribute a fixed amount, and shared the profits with the author. This is subject to the risk that the publisher inflates the costs, to reduce the apparent profit.
- Royalties. The publisher takes the risk and agrees to pay royalties on every copy, on every copy over a certain number, on every copy after production costs are met (subject to the risk of inflated costs). Sometimes the royalties could increase after a particular number of copies. Mann seems to have sold her books on a variation of a royalty system with an initial down-payment by the publisher to secure the right to publish an edition, and then royalty payments based on sales of the book.[note 1]:77 However, when a down-payment is made, royalties were usually only paid after a given number of copies are sold, typically the number of copies needed to cover the down payment at the given royalty rate or less.
- In Henty's For Name and Fame: With Roberts to Cabul or Through Afghan Passes (Blackie, London, 1885) ,the hero Thomas Rippon is stolen by a Gypsy in revenge for the jailing of her husband. He is placed in a workhouse in Norfolk, grows up there and is apprenticed to a fishing smack. However, the additional love and attention he got from the wife of the gatekeeper of the workhouse, help to ensure that he never becomes coarse, and is fitted to sit alongside his father when he is eventually discovered.[19][20]
- In Henty's By Conduct and Courage: a story of the days of Nelson (Blackie, London, 1904) the hero William Gillmore is orphaned as a toddler, and is only saved from the workhouse by the small sum in his father's purse being enough to help a local fisherman buy a new boat. He is apprenticed to the fisherman and after many adventures is a fit person to stand as heir to his grand-fathers title and estates.[21]
- See, for example WorldCat[22] or the dates on the books found by searching Google Books for works by her.[23]
- The Jisc Library Hub Discover brings together the catalogues of 165 Major UK and Irish libraries. Additional libraries are being added all the time, and the catalogue collates national, university, and research libraries.[25][26]
- Republished in 1903 by Methuen,[2]:224-225 as a new edition. The price for the new edition is not stated, but most of the other novels in the advertisement are six shillings.[27] The Bristol Mercury said We have seldom read a more gracefully-written Idyll, odorous of English rural life, and thoroughly true to nature . . . , than is presented in this volume and In every case the personages are most incisively and humorously portrayed, and we seem to be actually watching and listening to living men and women.[28]
- The Morning Post said: The sensational incidents of the book do not conceal the poor material of which it is constructed.[29] Available online at the British Library.[30]
- There were 300 sixpenny novels issued in 1903 by various publishers. Typically these were reprints.<ref name='Sixpenny-Novels-1903' group=''>
- Republished in 1903 by Methuen.[2]:224-225 in a new edition as a Methuen Popular Novel at six shillings,[31] and as a Methuen sixpenny novel[note 9] Methuen may have used the stereotypes, or their flongs, from the six shilling novel to print the sixpenny novel without any need to reset the type, reducing costs by using cheaper paper, smaller margins, simpler binding, and board covers.
- Republished in 1904 by Methuen.[2]:224-225 as a Methuen Popular Novel at six shillings.[38] It was published in the March 1905 edition of The Novelist, a monthly Methuen magazine that featured long novels by popular authors at the price of sixpence. Each number of the magazine was said to be as long as a average Six Shilling Novel.[39] The Morning Post called the story far from pleasant, and the bounds of good taste are transgressed in many of the author's scenes that, were they not lacking in power, might be termed Zolaesque, and that Mann's talent lies in another direction as can be seen . . . in her charming pictures of life in the tranquil parsonage. . . [40] St. James's Gazette said that despite the flaws in the book there are some strong characters in it, and the Plot shows considerable powers of invention.[41]Available online at the British Library in three volumes.[42][43][44] Available online at the Hathi Trust in a single volume.[45]
- Republished in 1904 by Methuen.[2]:224-225 The Graphic says: One special merit in the novel is the skill with which its many portraits are contrasted, so that the strong points of each are brought into the highest possible relief.[46] St. James's Gazette said that the book is a decided improvement the author's last effort, but the rather reckless way in which the characters are run over by railway trains and die of heart-disease—two of them do this—is trying to one’s nerves.[47] Available online at the British Library in three volumes,[48][49][50] and at the Hathi Trust as a single volume.[51]
- Missing details from press notices.[52] Republished in 1904 by Methuen,[2]:224-225 as a Methuen Popular Novel at six shillings.[38] Reissued in 1909 as a Methuen sixpenny novel.[53] The Morning Post stated that Mann has done far better work than this and that Miss Mann has done much with somewhat poor materials, without, however, being equal to herself.[54] The Graphic said that the work is by no means of first-class order but even so it was above-average fiction.[55] Available online at the British Library in two volumes.[56][57] Available online at the Hathi Trust in a single volume.[58]
- Missing details from press notices.[59] Available online at the British Library in two volumes.[60][61]
- Missing details from press notices.[62] Republished first in 1902[63] and again in 1914 by John Long.[2]:224-225 Issued as John Long Sixpenny Novel in March 1904.[64] Available online at both the British Library in three volumes, [65][66][67] and at the Hathi Trust in three volumes.[68][69][70]
- Republished in 1899 by T. Fisher Unwin.[2]:224-225 Available online at both the British Library,[71] and Hathi Trust.[72]
- Republished in 1904 by Methuen.[2]:224-225 Second edition with a pen and ink frontispiece by Alan Wright. Available online at the British Library.[73]
- Republished in 1904 by Methuen.[2]:224-225 The Globe says that this is a graceful, sympathetic story of a man and a child and that the whole story is bright and engaging.[74]
- Missing details from press notices.[75] Issued as a Methuen sixpenny novel in 1903.[76] Republished in 1919 by Methuen.[2]:224-225 Available online at both the British Library,[77] and Hathi Trust.[78]
- Missing details from press notices.[79] Available online at the British Library.[80]
- With 39 illustrations by Myra Luxmoore.
- Republished by Methuen as a Methuen Sixpenny Novel in 1908.[81]
- This is the story of a young woman with a complicated love life, where her choice of partner is constrained by economic necessity, but she is then forced into daily contact with her former love. The Pall Mall Gazette referred to it as that very excellent novel.[82] It was serialised in a several papers in England including the Lowestoft Journal[83] and the Ipswich Journal[84] under the title Among the Syringas. It was also serialised in other newspapers, including the Islington Gazette[85] and the Bradford Daily Telegraph[6] under the title Loved by Two Women.
- A collection of 12 short stories.[2]:226-227 This was Mann's first published collection of short stories. The Dundee Courier says that the book is unpalatable and questions if it can be recommended for the shelves of a home library saying There is a great deal of good writing within the covers, and a great deal not good.[86] The Pall Mall Gazette says that while the book is not up to level of Mann's best work, There is the same sympathetic insight displayed here that characterized all the writer’s work—the same keen sense of humour and the same delicious portrayal of child-life and that the book is certainly eminently readable.[82]
- Published as a Methuen Popular Novel at six shillings.[38]
- Republished in 1905 by Methuen[2]:224-225 as one of Methuen's popular novel, priced at six shillings.[87]
- Second edition. The Norfolk Chronicle said: It is in relating the experiences of Rose at Honeypot that the authoress has given the reader those vivid and realistic touches of rural life as it is lived in the agricultural villages that makes the work the best and most interesting that Mrs. Mann has yet written.[88] Available online at the Hathi Trust.[89]
- Available online at the Hathi Trust.[90]
- A Methuen Popular Novel ast six shillings.[92] Republished in 1912 by the Amalgamated Press as a Daily Mail sixpenny novel[2]:128
- Second edition. A collection of short stories. Published in Methuen's Popular Novels at six shillings.[93] Available on Project Gutenberg.[94]
- Published as a Methuen Popular Novel at six shillings.
- A collection of short stories.
- This was adapted by Richard Pryce from Mann's novel The Eglamore Portraits .[95] The play was first performed on 1 December 1909 at the Playhouse. The London Evening Standard consider that while the play was distinctly jolly, it was not that funny. The plot centred on a mother-in-law secretly working against her son's wife.[96] Available online at the Hathi Trust.[97]
- This was an adaptation by Richard Pryce of a story by Mann called Freddy's Ship.[95] The play was first performed on 1 December 1909 at the Playhouse, as a curtain raiser for Little Mrs Cummin. The London Evening Standard called the play a serious little play and was complimentary about the play and the actors. The one act-play concerned a woman trying to keep the news of the death of someone from his mother.[96] Available online at the Hathi Trust.[98]
- This is a collection of twenty-two short stories.[2]:226-227
- A family suffers a reversal of fortune and one daughter is industrious while the other is idle. While the Daily Mirror called this a most touching story.[99] The Northern Whig said that the book seemed to be intended for younger girls and that Mann was capable of infinitely hotter things.[100] However the Dublin Daily Express considered that this was one of the most delightful novels we have read for some time and welcomed the book as being a departure from so-called modernism and a return to the quieter style of the mid-Victorian era.[101] Available online at the Hathi Trust,[102] and on Project Gutenberg.[103]
- This is a collection of twenty-one short stories.[2]:226-227 The Scotsman said that in every one of them is revealed something of the author's sympathetic power of reading and portraying character and her skill as a storyteller. [16]
- The Yorkshire Post]] said that this is a simple pleasant story. . . and that though slight in its motive, is very good reading.[104] The Tatler was far more critical describing the story as not raising an inch above its milk-and-watery title, and that while Mann was always worth reading, this effort is scarcely worth reading twice.[15]
- The Illustrated London News said that the novel had no touch of reality and the characters did not succeed in touching either our hearts or our imagination.[105]
- The wife of an Indian official falls in love with a handsome young army officer and runs off with him. He abandons her just before the birth of her child. The child is consigned to the workshouse. Almost destitute she appeals to her husband for help. He accepts here back and they fall in love afresh. Years later as a widow, she meets the army officer and they go looking for the child, only to find the slattern, foul-mouthed wife of a fisherman, the true victim of their deeds. The Scotsman says that in this book Mann . . . continues with an equal thoroughness and success those methods which have made her one of the most artistic of contemporary British novelists.[18]
- A collection of short stories. Truth said that Mann seemed to have supped full of horrors and then dreamed the nightmare stories in the collection. However even though all but two stores are . . . more or less grim or ghastly, yet as being Miss Mann's you cannot if you once begin one fail to finish it.[106]
References
- "Mary E Rackham Mann". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
- Aldis, Marion; Inder, Pamela (2013). MEM: A biography of Mary E Mann, Norfolk novelist 1848 1929. Dereham: Larks Press.
- Taylor, D. J. (2004-09-23). "Mann [née Rackham], Mary Elizabeth (1848–1929)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- Norfolk Record Office (1848-09-17). "Reference: BT ANF 1848_d-h: Baptisms solemnised in the Parish of Heigham in the City of Norwich in the Year 1884: Entry No. 1492: Mary Elizabeth Rackham". Norfolk Church of England Registers. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com.
- Sutherland, John (1905-06-11). The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 406. ISBN 0-8047-1528-9. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- "New Story. Loved By Two Women". Bradford Daily Telegraph (Friday 08 February 1901): 3. 1901-02-08. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Sprigge, Samuel Squire (1890). The Methods of Publishing. London: Henry Glaisher on behalf of The Incorporated Society of Authors. pp. 26–82. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- Fergus, Jan (1997). "The Professional Woman Writer". In Copeland, Edward (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 21. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- Greenwall, Ryno (1905-06-14). Artists and Illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War. Vlaeberg, Western Cape, South Africa: Fernwood Press. pp. 262–263. ISBN 0-9583154-2-6.
- Kemp, Sandra; Mitchell, Charlotte; Trotter, David (1905-06-19). Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 264. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- A. & C. Black Ltd. (1967). Who Was Who: Volume III: 1929-1940: A Companion to Who's Who Containing the Biographies of Those Who Died During the Period 1929-1940. Vol 3: 1929-1940 (2nd ed.). London: Adam and Charles Black. p. 896. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- Taylor, D. J. (2000-10-07). "Simple tales of country folk". The Independent. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- Byatt, Antonia Susan, ed. (1998). The Oxford Book of English Short Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-214238-0. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- Mann, Mary Elizabeth; Taylor, D. J.; Tomlinson, Patience (2008). The complete tales of Dulditch with a foreword by D. J. Taylor and an introduction by Patience Tomlinson. Dereham: Larks Press.
- King, Richard (1915-08-25). "With Silent Friends". The Tatler (Wednesday 25 August 1915): 20. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Fiction". The Scotsman (Monday 12 May 1913): 2. 1913-05-12. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Mrs. Mary E. Mann". The Times (Monday 15 July 1929): 19. 1929-07-15. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- "New Fiction". The Scotsman (Thursday 11 October 1917): 2. 1917-10-11. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Literary Jottings". Norwich Mercury (Saturday 05 December 1885): 3. 1885-12-05. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Christmas Books". London Evening Standard (Monday 07 December 1885): 2. 1885-12-07. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "The Christmas Bookshelf". Graphic (Saturday 05 November 1904): 30. 1904-11-05. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Search for works by "Mann, Mary E."". World Cat. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
- "Searching Google Books for books by Mary E Mann". Google Books. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
- "Whats on: A Dulditch Angel: Sat 1 Oct 2005-Sat 26 Nov 2005". Eastern Angles. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
- "Libraries on Discover: Contributing libraries list". Library Hub Discover. 2020-07-25.
- "About Library Hub Discover". Library Hub Discover. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
- "Methuen's Popular Novels". Truth (Thursday 19 March 1903): 57. 1903-03-19. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Literature". Bristol Mercury (Saturday 24 March 1883): 6. 1883-03-24. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Confessions of a Coward And Coquette". Morning Post (Friday 25 December 1885): 6. 1885-12-25. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1885). Confessions of a Coward and Coquette. Being the record of a short period of her life as told by herself. London: Ward & Downey. pp. 303 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Westminster Gazette (Monday 10 August 1903): 4. 1903-08-10. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (Wednesday 23 November 1904): 4. 1904-11-23. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- O' Brien, Barry (1886-07-15). "Letter on Books". Truth (Thursday 15 July 1886): 30. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Novels". The Graphic (Saturday 08 May 1886): 30. 1886-05-08. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Recent Novels". Morning Post (Thursday 08 April 1886): 3. 1886-04-08. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1886). Mrs. Peter Howard. Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder. pp. 2 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1886). Mrs. Peter Howard. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder. pp. 2 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- "Methuen's Popular Novels: Spring 1904". Westminster Gazette (Wednesday 06 January 1904): 3. 1904-01-06. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Methuen (1905). Messers Methuens Announcements, inserted at the end of Jane Austern and her times by Geraldine Edith Mitton. London: Methuen. p. 15.
- "Recent Novels". Morning Post (Wednesday 23 January 1889): 2. 1889-01-23. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Novels". St James's Gazette (Friday 18 January 1889): 7. 1889-01-18. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1889). A lost estate. Vol. 1. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1889). A lost estate. Vol. 2. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1889). A lost estate. Vol. 3. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1889). A lost estate. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- "New Novels". The Graphic (Saturday 05 April 1890): 18. 1890-04-05. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Novels". St James's Gazette (Tuesday 08 April 1890): 6. 1890-04-08. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1890). One another's burdens. Vol. 1. London: Richard Bentley & Son. pp. 3 v. v.1 6, 304 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1890). One another's burdens. Vol. 2. London: Richard Bentley & Son. pp. 3 v. v.2 6, 276 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1890). One another's burdens. Vol. 3. London: Richard Bentley & Son. pp. 3 v. v.3 6, 277 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1903). One Another's Burdens (New ed.). London: Methuen. pp. vi, 334 p., 12mo. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- "New Novels at all Libraries". Truth (Thursday 26 March 1891): 41. 1891-03-26. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Westminster Gazette (Friday 08 October 1909): 3. 1909-10-08. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Recent Novels". Morning Post (Wednesday 18 March 1891): 2. 1891-03-18. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Novels". Graphic (Saturday 11 April 1891): 17. 1891-04-11. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1891). A winter's tale. Vol. 1. London: R. Bentley & Son. pp. 2 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1891). A winter's tale. Vol. 2. London: R. Bentley & Son. pp. 2 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1891). A Winter's Tale. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. pp. 287 p. 12º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- "Yesterday's New Books". London Evening Standard (Saturday 12 August 1893): 3. 1893-08-12. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1893). Perdita. Vol. 1. London: R. Bentley & Son. pp. 2 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1893). Perdita. Vol. 2. London: R. Bentley & Son. pp. 2 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- "Books Received". St James's Gazette (Tuesday 10 January 1893): 15. 1893-01-10. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mr John Long's New Novels. Pall Mall Gazette. 1902-07-31. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Advertisement for Mr. John Long". The Academy and Literature (1663): 311. 1540. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1893). In Summer Shade. Vol. 1. London: H. Henry & Co. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1893). In Summer Shade. Vol. 2. London: H. Henry & Co. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1893). In Summer Shade. Vol. 3. London: H. Henry & Co. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1892). In Summer Shade. Vol. 1. New York: Harper and Brothers. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Mann, Mary E. (1892). In Summer Shade. Vol. 2. New York: Harper and Brothers. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Mann, Mary E. (1892). In Summer Shade. Vol. 3. New York: Harper and Brothers. pp. 3 v., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Mann, Mary E. (1895). Susannah. London: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. viii. 403 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1896). Suzannah. New York: Harper & Bros. pp. iv, 352 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Mann, Mary E. (1896). There was once a Prince. London: H. Henry & Co. pp. 313 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- "Books for Girls". Globe (Tuesday 06 December 1904): 4. 1904-12-06. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Messers. Hutchinson and Co.'s New Books". The Sketch (Wednesday 12 January 1898): 5. 1898-01-12. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Books and Magazines". Daily Telegraph & Courier (London) (Monday 18 May 1903): 12. 1903-05-18. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1898). The Cedar star. London: Hutchinson and Co. pp. vi. 347 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- Mann, Mary E. (1887). The Cedar star. New York: R. F. Fenno & Company. pp. 317 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- "Five Successful New Novels". Westminster Gazette (Wednesday 01 March 1899): 3. 1899-03-01. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1899). Moonlight. London: T. Fisher Unwin. pp. vii. 291 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Library.
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Globe (Wednesday 26 August 1908): 4. 1908-08-26. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Reviews". Pall Mall Gazette (Friday 03 January 1902): 4. 1902-01-03. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Among the Syringas". Lowestoft Journal (Saturday 05 January 1901): 3. 1901-01-05. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Among the Syringas". The Ipswich Journal (Saturday 13 April 1901): 2. 1901-04-13. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Loved By Two Women". Islington Gazette (Friday 29 August 1902): 8. 1902-08-29. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Books". Dundee Courier (Wednesday 01 January 1902): 6. 1902-01-01. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Westminster Gazette (Saturday 19 August 1905): 1. 1905-08-19. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Notes and Reviews: A Romance of Rural Norfolk". Norfolk Chronicle (Saturday 03 February 1906): 3. 1906-02-03. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1906). Rose at Honeypot (2nd ed.). London: Methuen. pp. vi, 308 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Pryce, Richard; Mann, Mary E. (1906). The Eglamore Portraits. London: Methuen & Co. pp. v, 319 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- The Times called this an unpleasant book in her obituary.[17]
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Westminster Gazette (Wednesday 16 October 1907): 3. 1907-10-16. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Advertisement for Methuen". Globe (Wednesday 11 March 1908): 4. 1908-03-11. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1908). A Sheaf of Corn. London: Methuen & Co. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
- "Untitled". Sporting Life (Thursday 11 November 1909): 2. 1909-11-11. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "The Playhouse". London Evening Standard (Thursday 02 December 1909): 10. 1909-12-02. Retrieved 2020-08-10 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1910). Little Mrs. Cummin. A comedy in three acts. London: Samuel French. pp. 97 p., 1 p., 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Pryce, Richard; Mann, Mary E. (1910). The Visit. A play in one act. London: Samuel French. pp. 24 p. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- "Books for the Library List". Daily Mirror (Saturday 11 October 1913): 7. 1913-10-11. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Literature". Northern Whig (Saturday 04 October 1913): 10. 1913-10-04. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Fiction". Daily Express (Dublin) (Thursday 16 October 1913): 7. 1913-10-16. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Mann, Mary E. (1913). Mrs. Day's daughters. New York: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 327 p. 8º. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Hathi Trust (access may be limited outside the United States).
- Mann, Mary E. (2003-06-03). Mrs. Day's daughters. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
- "Recent Fiction". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (Wednesday 29 September 1915): 4. 1915-09-29. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Novels". Illustrated London News (Saturday 25 March 1916): 2. 1916-03-25. Retrieved 2020-08-15 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Books". Truth (Wednesday 25 December 1918): 131. 1918-12-25. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Literary Notes". The Academy and Literature (1654): 61. 1477. Retrieved 2020-08-12 – via The Internet Archive.
- "Mary Elizabeth Mann: A Norfolk Writer". Norfolk Tales, Myths & More!. 2020-03-08. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
External links
- Simple tales of country folk, DJ Taylor, The Independent, 7 October 2000
- Sinister tales of the countryside, Eastern Daily Press, May 18, 2001
- Works by Mary E. Mann at Project Gutenberg