first edition
1827 · (London)
(London): Printed for the Company of Stationers, 1827. Very good plus.. Collection of seventeen issues — all in the original stitched wrappers — offering puzzles, charades, rebuses, geometrical proofs, and mathematical problems for "the Diversion of the Fair-Sex." The LADIES' DIARY was founded in 1704, one of England's first popular magazines and one of the longest-lived almanacs of its day due to the popularity of its mathematical content with its female audience. Founder John Tipper initially included a range of household advice and general-interest material, but by 1709 his readership had made their preferences for "enigmas" and "Arithmetical Questions" clear, and for the rest of its long run the ALMANACK focused on mathematics with the occasional foray into astronomy or the other sciences. Each issue published new problems and solutions to old ones, contributed by both men and women, though the number of women contributors fell as the nineteenth century advanced and women were generally excluded from the formal study of increasingly complex higher mathematics.
While many of the male Diarists were respected mathematicians and others self-identified as schoolmasters, much less is known about the several female contributors whose names repeatedly appear in these later issues (in most cases, nothing beyond marital status and place of residence). What little information can be found suggests a readership unconstrained by class boundaries: one Enigma-solver, Mrs. Frances Greensted, is noted in the 94th issue as the Author of a Volume of Poems, entitled 'Fugitive Pieces'"; the MONTHLY REVIEW described that volume as "the composition of a female in the humble station of a servant" whose writing indicates "a well-disposed and not uncultivated mind." Another Enigma was proposed by a Jane Hales of Northamptonshire, plausibly the same Jane Hales who appears, after her marriage to Brook Henry Bridges, as "Mrs. Bridges" in the letters of Jane Austen. Nancy Mason of Clapham, creator and solver of several difficult problems over a six-year span, was speculatively identified as a governess by a local historian (Swetz); and poet Charlotte Caroline Richardson was a second-generation contributor whose parents, "Mrs. R. formerly Betty Smales" and Robert Richardson first encountered each other's verses in the pages of the LADIES' DIARY and carried out a courtship by letter.
A terrific assemblage of community-sourced mathematical amusement for women of the late Georgian period. 7'' x 4.5'' each. Original stitched wrappers. Uncut. Front wrappers with woodcut ornament portrait of a woman, printed in red and black; almanac stamps to each. 48 pages each. Most issues with small ink shelfmark to first leaf. A few ink spots; three issues with stitching renewed. Overall beautifully clean and intact. (Inventory #: 53226)
While many of the male Diarists were respected mathematicians and others self-identified as schoolmasters, much less is known about the several female contributors whose names repeatedly appear in these later issues (in most cases, nothing beyond marital status and place of residence). What little information can be found suggests a readership unconstrained by class boundaries: one Enigma-solver, Mrs. Frances Greensted, is noted in the 94th issue as the Author of a Volume of Poems, entitled 'Fugitive Pieces'"; the MONTHLY REVIEW described that volume as "the composition of a female in the humble station of a servant" whose writing indicates "a well-disposed and not uncultivated mind." Another Enigma was proposed by a Jane Hales of Northamptonshire, plausibly the same Jane Hales who appears, after her marriage to Brook Henry Bridges, as "Mrs. Bridges" in the letters of Jane Austen. Nancy Mason of Clapham, creator and solver of several difficult problems over a six-year span, was speculatively identified as a governess by a local historian (Swetz); and poet Charlotte Caroline Richardson was a second-generation contributor whose parents, "Mrs. R. formerly Betty Smales" and Robert Richardson first encountered each other's verses in the pages of the LADIES' DIARY and carried out a courtship by letter.
A terrific assemblage of community-sourced mathematical amusement for women of the late Georgian period. 7'' x 4.5'' each. Original stitched wrappers. Uncut. Front wrappers with woodcut ornament portrait of a woman, printed in red and black; almanac stamps to each. 48 pages each. Most issues with small ink shelfmark to first leaf. A few ink spots; three issues with stitching renewed. Overall beautifully clean and intact. (Inventory #: 53226)
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