Mary Botham grew up in a Quaker family that took some care with her education; she was married William Howitt in 1821. The Howitts collaborated on a profusion of works in many literary kinds, and traveled much in Britain and the Continent; Mary was much in demand as a contributor to gift-books and annuals. She was an acquaintance of Mary Russell Mitford and corresponded with Bernard Barton and Felicia Hemans, among many other literary friends.
TEXT RECORDS:
1826Surrey in Captivity.
1827Lines for the Tomb of Hofer, the Tyrolese Patriot, on the Brenner Mountains.
1827Stanzas to Bernard Barton.
1827The Desolation of Eyam.
1827The Last Eve of Saul.
1827Tyre.
PUBLICATIONS:
The forest minstrel and other poems [with William Howitt]. 1823.
The desolation of Eyam, the emigrant: a tale of the American woods; and other poems [with William Howitt]. 1827.
Sketches of natural history. 1834.
Wood Leighton: or a year in the country. 3 vols, 1836.
Hymns and fireside verses. 1839.
Hope on, hope ever! 1840.
Strive and thrive: a tale. 1840.
Sowing and reaping: or what will come of it? 1841.
Work and wages: or a life in service. 1842.
Little coin, much care. 1842.
Love and money, an everyday tale. 1843.
No sense like common sense: or some passages in the life of Charles Middleton. 1843.
My uncle, the clockmaker. A tale. 1844.
Fireside verses. 1845.
Ballads and other poems. 1847.
The children's year. 1847.
The heir of Wast-Waylan. 1847.
Howitt's journal of literature and other popular progress. 1847-49.
Our cousins in Ohio. 1849.
The picture book for the young. 1855.
Birds and flowers and other country things. 1855.
Marion's pilgrimage: a fire-side story, and other poems. 1859.
A popular history of the United States. 1859.
Lillieslea: or lost and found. 1861.
Little Arthur's letters to his sister Mary. A pleasing picture book. 1861.
The cost of Caergwyn. 3 vols, 1864.
Stories of Stapleford. 1864.
Tales in prose for young people.
Tales in verse for young people. 1865.
Our four-footed friends. 1867.
Vignettes of American history. 1869.
Birds and their nests. 1872.
Tales for all seasons. 1881.
PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:
English
Quaker
Catholic
Dissenter
Friends' School Croydon
Dissenting Academy
woman writer
poet
essayist
novelist
The Kaleidoscope
Forget-Me-Not
Friendship's Offering
Literary Souvenir
Literary Magnet
The Amulet
Winter's Wreath
The Gem
The Iris
Pledge of Friendship
Juvenile Forget-Me-Not
New Year's Gift
Christmas Box
Ackermann's Juvenile Forget-Me-Not
Joanna Baillie
Bernard Barton
Felicia Hemans
William Howitt
Mary Russell Mitford
Dr. David Macbeth Moir
Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen
Alaric Alexander Watts
REFERENCE:
DNB; NCBEL; DLB.
John Wilson, "Noctes Ambrosianae" Blackwoods (November 1828; April 1831); Allan Cunningham, "Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum No. 316 (16 November 1833) 773; S. C. Hall, in The Book of Gems (1838); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); R. H. Horne, in New Spirit of the Age (1844); Frederic Rowton, Female Poets of Great Britain (1853); David Macbeth Moir, Poetical Literature of the Past Half-Century (1851; 1856) 276-79; Sarah Josepha Hale, Woman's Record (1855) [portrait]; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Joseph Smith, A Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books (1867);Alaric Alfred Watts, Alaric Watts ... by his Son (1884); Mary Howitt, ed. Margaret Howitt, An Autobiography (1889); Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921); Evelyn Noble Armitage, Quaker Poets (1896) 120-24; Carl R. Woodring, Victorian Samplers: William and Mary Howitt (1952); Amice Lee, Laurels and Rosemary: the Life of William and Mary Howitt (1955); Jackson, Romantic Poetry by Women: A Bibliography (1993); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995); Feldman, British Women Poets (1997).
COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Mary Howitt:
BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Mary Howitt:
AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)