Description: This edition of Robert Sidney's surviving letters to his wife Barbara Gamage Sidney provides a wealth of information about the Sidneys' family life. It also offers an extraordinary record of an early modern English household in which the wife was entrusted with the overall responsibility for the well-being of her family, and for managing a large estate in the absence of her husband. The volume includes an introduction and notes by the editors, as well as other contextual materials. The introduction specifically addresses the issue of Barbara's literacy, within the broader context of late-Elizabethan women's literacy.
Review Quotes: Prize: Honorable Mention for the Josephine Roberts Edition Prize, awarded by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women in 2006 '... this authoritative text provides a fascinating and detailed biographical introduction to the lives of the correspondents and the historical context of Robert Sidney's letters... This meticulously edited collection will also no doubt bring him renewed attention.' The Year's Work in English Studies