Anyone interested in pauper letters will come across Thomas Sokoll’s book Essex Pauper Letters, 1731-1837, published in 2001. An online review of the book came out in HistoricalSociolinguistics/Sociohistorical Linguistics two years later. But the book is also cited as important introductory reading … Continue reading
During the last few weeks of the course Letters as Sociohistorical-Linguistic Documents, I’ve been reminded of the many special linguistic insights which letters are able to provide. We’ve read,* for example, about how letters may provide evidence for reconstructing social … Continue reading
There are 13 letters in the Leiden University Library by William Warburton (1698–1779), who is described by the ONDB as ‘bishop of Gloucester and religious controversialist’. One of the people he entered into a controversy with was Robert Lowth (1710-1787). For a … Continue reading
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Despite all the proposals my transcription has prompted, I have incorporated most of them by consensus. That is the reason why three words are still displayed in brackets since such expressions require further analysis. Therefore, I would be glad of … Continue reading
One of my students was writing a paper on Joseph Addison’s Will, and because she wanted to verify if the Will was actually in his own hand, she googled for “Joseph Addison” and “handwriting”. Joseph Addison lived from 1672 to … Continue reading
Long <s> is a typical feature of 18th-century English spelling, as James Boswell’s letter, reproduced elsewhere in this blog, shows. But though it disappeared from printed texts around the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, it still appears … Continue reading
The following is a list of book-length studies on Late Modern English letters, from a linguistic, discourse-analytical or sociohistorical perspective. Additions are very welcome. Fens-de Zeeuw, Lyda (2011). Lindley Murray (1745-1826), Quaker and Grammarian. Utrecht: LOT. Fitzmaurice, Susan (2002). The Familiar Letter in Early … Continue reading
The publisher Peter Lang just distributed a catalogue with an overview of their impressive series called Linguistic Insights, Studies in language and communication, edited by Maurizio Gotti from the University of Bergamo. The series contains several titles that are relevant … Continue reading
This is the title of a magnificent study by Susan Whyman. Its subtitle is English Letter Writers 1660-1800, and the book was first published in 2009 by Oxford University Press. It analyses a host of letters from the period, but focusses … Continue reading
If you write a PhD in the Netherlands, you usually have to supply a set of so-called “stellingen” (scholarly propositions) along with the printed book. I defended my PhD in 1987, and my thesis was called The Auxiliary Do in Eighteenth-Century … Continue reading
Late Modern English letters 