Most famous novelist of her day – now hardly known

Top-selling lot in Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) books and manuscripts sale on November 15 was a collection of 14 letters written by the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) between 1818-31.

They sold for £8000, ten times the low estimate, in the Shrewsbury saleroom.

Although Edgeworth i…

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