The Advantages Of Education. A Tale For Misses And Their Mammas.
The Adventures Of A Pin, Supposed To Be Related By Himself, Herself, Or Itself.
The Adventures Of An Irish Smock, Interspersed With Whimsical Anecdotes Of A Nankeen Pair Of Breeches.
The Adventures Of An Ostrich Feather Of Quality.
The Adventures Of A Watch!
The Affecting History Of Two Young Gentlewomen, Who Were Ruined By Their Excessive Attachment To The Amusements Of The Town. To Which Are Added, Many Practical Notes, By Dr. Typo.
Amorous Tales Of The Chaste Loves Of Peter The Long.
Any Thing But What You Expect.
Argal; Or The Silver Devil, Being The Adventures Of An Evil Spirit, Comprising A Series Of Interesting Anecdotes, With Which The Demon Became Acquainted, During His Confinement In The Metalline Substance To Which He Was Condemned. Related By Himself.
Astonishment!!!
Atrocities Of A Convent.
The Bachelor’s Journal, Inscribed (Without Permission) To The Girls Of England.
The Bloody Hand, Or, The Fatal Cup. A Tale Of Horror!
The Book!! Or, Procrastinated Memoirs.
Budget, Or Moral And Entertaining Fragments.
But Which?
The Castle Without A Spectre.
The Charms Of Dandyism; Or Living In Style. By Olivia Moreland, Chief Of The Female Dandies.
Conviction; Or, She Is Innocent!
Cuckoldom Triumphant Or, Matrimonial Incontinence Vindicated.
The Egg, Or The Memoirs Of Gregory Giddy, Esq: With The Lucubrations Of Messrs. Francis Flimsy, Frederick Florid, And Ben Bombast. To Which Are Added, The Private Opinions Of Patty Pout, Lucy Luscious, And Priscilla Positive. Also The Memoirs Of A Right Honourable Puppy. Conceived By A Celebrated Hen, And Laid Before The Public By A Famous Cock-Feeder.
The Expedition Of Little Pickle; Or, The Pretty Plotter.
Fashionable Infidelity.
The Fault Was All His Own. In A Series Of Letters. By A Lady.
Flim-Flams! Or, The Life And Errors Of My Uncle, And The Amours Of My Aunt! With Illustrations And Obscurities, By Messieurs Tag, Rag, And Bobtail. With An Illuminating Index!
The Freebooter Of The Alps.
The Genuine And Entertaining Memoirs Of A Well-Known Woman Of Intrigue. Written By Herself.
Good Men Of Modern Date. A Satirical Tale.
The Happy Art Of Teazing.
He’s Always In The Way.
Hesitation; Or, To Marry, Or, Not To Marry?
The History Of A Dog. Written By Himself, And Published By A Gentleman Of His Acquaintance. Translated From The French.
Home. A Novel. Expect Not A Story Deck’d In The Garb Of Fancy,—But Look At Home.
Horrible Revenge, Or, The Monster Of Italy!!
How It Happened That I Was Born.
Human Beings.
Husband Hunters!!!
“I Can’t Afford It.” And Other Tales.
I’ll Consider It!
The Imaginary Adultress.
The Interesting Adventures Of A Hackney Coach, (As Related By The Coachman)
Isn’t It Odd? By Marmaduke Merrywhistle.
It Was Me, A Tale By Me, One Who Cares For Nothing Or Nobody.
Italian Mysteries; Or, More Secrets Than One.
The Laughable Adventures Of Charles And Lisette; Or, The Beards.
A Lesson For Husbands.
The Libertines; Or, Monkish Mysteries!
The Life And Extraordinary Adventures, The Perils And Critical Escapes Of Timothy Ginnadrake, That Child Of Checquered Fortune.
Love And Madness. A Story Too True. In A Series Of Letters Between Parties Whose Names Would Perhaps Be Mentioned Were They Less Well Known Or Less Lamented.
The Male-Coquette; Or, The History Of The Hon. Edward Astell.
The Marchioness!!! Or, “The Matured Enchantress.”
Married Life; Or, Faults On All Sides.
Matrimony, The Height Of Bliss, Or The Extreme Of Misery.
Memoirs Of An Old Wig.
A Modern Anecdote Of The Ancient Family Of The Kinkvervankotsdarsprakengotchderns.
Modern Seduction, Or Innocence Betrayed: Consisting Of Several Histories Of The Principal Magdalens, Received Into That Charity Since Its Establishment. Very Proper To Be Read By All Young Persons; As They Exhibit A Faithful Picture Of Those Arts Most Fatal To Youth And Innocence; And Of Those Miseries That Are The Never-Ending Consequences Of A Departure From Virtue.
More Ghosts!
The Mysterious Hand; Or, Subterranean Horrours!
The Mysterious Husband.
The Mysterious Pregnancy.
Mystery Upon Mystery.
The News-Paper Wedding; Or, An Advertisement For A Husband.
No Enthusiasm.
Nothing New.
A Novel Of Novel Kind—An Evening’s Amusement For Yourself And Friends, At Which Every One Is Invited To Laugh, But
No One Obliged To Cry.
Nubilia In Search Of A Husband.
The Nunnery For Coquettes.
The Observant Pedestrian Mounted.
Odd Enough, To Be Sure!
Papa Brick; Or, What Is Death?
Parents And Wives; Or, Inconsistency And Mistakes.
The Peaceful Villa, An Eventful Tale.
The Polish Bandit; Or, Who Is My Bride?
Princess Coquedoeuf And Prince Bonbon.
Probable Incidents.
Prodigious!!!
The Question, Who Is Anna?
Read, And Give It A Name.
Realities, Not A Novel. A Tale From Real Life.
Reft Rob; Or, The Witch Of Scot-Muir, Commonly Called Madge The Snoover.
The Sacred Deposit.
Says She To Her Neighbour, What? By An Old-Fashioned Englishman.
Secrets In Every Mansion.
Socrates Out Of His Senses.
The Spectres, Or, Lord Oswald And Lady Rosa, Including An Account Of The Marchioness Of Cevetti Who Was Basely Consigned To A Dungeon Beneath Her Castle By Her Eldest Son, Whose Cruel Avarice Plunged Him Into The Commission Of The Worst Of Crimes, That Stains The Annals Of The Human Race
“There Is A Secret, Find It Out!”
Things By Their Right Names; A Novel. By A Person Without A Name.
Think’s-I-To-Myself. A Serio-Ludicro, Tragico-Comido Tale, Written By Think’s-I-To-Myself Who? In Two Volumes.
The Three Monks!!! From The French.
The Three Perils Of Man, Or, War, Women, And Witchcraft.
The Travels Of Hildebrand Bowman, Esquire, Into Carnovirria, Taupiniera, Olfactaria, And Audinante, In New-Zealand; And In The Powerful Kingdom Of Luxo-Voluptot. Written By Himself; Who Went On Shore In The Adventure’s Large Cutter; And Escaped Being Cut Off, And Devoured, With The Rest Of The Boat’s Crew, By Happening To Be A-Shooting In The Woods; Where He Was Afterwards, Unfortunately Left Behind By The Adventure.
The Tutor Of Truth By The Author Of The Pupil Of Pleasure &C &C.
’Twas Wrong To Marry Him.
Very Strange, But Very True! Or, The History Of An Old Man’s Young Wife.
Walter The Murderer.
What D’ye Think Of The World?
Who Can He Be, Or, Who Is His Father?
Who Is The Bridegroom? Or, Nuptial Discoveries.
Who’s The Murderer?
Wine And Walnuts.
*
Works Referenced:
Garside, Peter, et al. The English Novel 1770-1829: A Bibliographical Survey of Prose Fiction Published in the British Isles. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.
Tracy, Ann Blaisdell. The Gothic Novel, 1790-1830: Plot Summaries and Index to Motifs. Lexington: Kentucky UP, 1981. Print.
Tags: beauty, books, lawrence evalyn, novels, titles
Oh man I used to work at the main branch of a Large Urban Public Library and if I was still there I would be in the stacks RIGHT NOW looking for these.
Astonishment!!!
“I Can’t Afford It.” And Other Tales.
I found my biography!!
mine is “It Was Me, A Tale By Me, One Who Cares For Nothing Or Nobody.”
the 18th is my favorite century, there is hardly even any competition
One of my first conversations with my partner, we bonded over scatalogical humor in 18th century Brit lit. STARZ IN THE EYEZ.
OK, so here’s all the ones I want to read:
The Charms Of Dandyism; Or Living In Style. By Olivia Moreland, Chief Of The Female Dandies.
The Mysterious Hand; Or, Subterranean Horrours!
The Genuine And Entertaining Memoirs Of A Well-Known Woman Of Intrigue. Written By Herself.
Is Chief of the Female Dandies a hereditary position? Or one that is seized by might and cunning?
I expect I’ll have to read this one, as well.
The Charms Of Dandyism! Genuine And Entertaining Memoirs (the second edition, in which the title is changed to Genuine And Authentic, which just seems like trying too hard to be convincing)!
And The Mysterious Hand is back in print, published by Valancourt Books, so you might be able to get it from your library!
Warning: I have not read any of these books, probably no book can live up to these spectacular titles.
I hope they were able to get the owners to come down on the asking price for “The Castle Without A Spectre.”
What good is a castle without a spectre?
Clearly, the owners need MORE GHOSTS!
“What was that sound Lawrence?!”
“I keep telling you, this is a castle WITHOUT a spectre!”
Third act twist: it was a mummy.
might be a nice spot for a ghost wedding
A nice day to haunt again.
I love how some novelist in the 1700s decided that a). a pin’s adventures would make an interesting story, b). said pin obviously had a gender, and c). they had to include all possible genders out of respect for the pronouns of an inanimate object.
“The Powerful Kingdom Of Luxo-Voluptot”
that’s the kingdom for me
This post made me intensely happy. Now I want Kate Beaton to draw book covers for these. (Sort of like her Nancy Drew and Edward Gorey comics.)
If I ever write an autobiography, I’m stealing “The Book!! Or, Procrastinated Memoirs” as the title.
My favorite part is the exclamation point in “The Adventures Of A Watch!” It’s like the author went through a thought process like: “Let’s tell a story about a watch! It travels in someone’s pocket and sees lots of things. That will be fun. Obviously I should call it ‘Adventures of a Watch.’ Wait. That sounds boring. Is it boring? Is this book boring?…NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, my book is awesome, haters to the left, it is the adventures of a watch WITH AN EXCLAMATION POINT!”
I am totally stealing “haters to the left”
I stole it from 30 Rock myself, so steal away!
I see “Shut up the market for adventures of inanimate objects is NOT exhausted; I KNOW you’ve read the Adventures of a Pin and the Adventures of a Pair of Irish Britches, but THIS IS DIFFERENT, DAMMIT. These are the Adventures OF A WATCH!”
The Travels Of Hildebrand Bowman, Esquire, Into Carnovirria, Taupiniera, Olfactaria, And Audinante, In New-Zealand; And In The Powerful Kingdom Of Luxo-Voluptot. Written By Himself; Who Went On Shore In The Adventure’s Large Cutter; And Escaped Being Cut Off, And Devoured, With The Rest Of The Boat’s Crew, By Happening To Be A-Shooting In The Woods; Where He Was Afterwards, Unfortunately Left Behind By The Adventure.
I hate when trailers spoil the movies.
The History Of A Dog. Written By Himself, And Published By A Gentleman Of His Acquaintance. Translated From The French.
So it’s a *French-speaking* dog? OF COURSE IT IS.
I love the 18C. Push the time frame back to the Restoration and one could probably compile this entire list using only works by Aphra Behn. I swear she has a story (maybe a play?) subtitled “Love in a Butt.”
Every time I read this list I find another gem. Madge the Snoover!! Also I just googled “snoover” and still don’t know what it is because all the results say it’s a gang related insult.
Urban Dictionary suggests “look at that bitch ass snoover” as appropriate usage.
According to the OED, to ‘snoove’ can mean:
To twirl (“A wife that snooves a spindle,” “A boy’s top is said to snuve, when it whirls round with great velocity, preserving at the same time an equal motion”)
or:
To move or advance steadily; to glide (“But just thy step a wee thing hastet, Thou snoov’t awa,” “Many a sharp rap did the old ship get as she snooved along.”)
So I guess Madge was probably known for spinning thread, but that’s boring, so let’s decide instead that she snooved as a mode of locomotion and everybody found it so weird they couldn’t stop talking about it. “Bitch ass snoover” is even better in this context.
YES perfect. Also, assuming you are the Lawrence who wrote the post, it very well might be my favorite thing I’ve ever read on here. It’s certainly up there, in any case! I will be giggling about it for days. Possibly months.
I will happily link to this post whenever I come across someone else who claims that literature is dead, or no one writes good books anymore, or that the internet is killing our ability to write.
“There is a Secret, Find It Out!” Do it! Do it right now!
Socrates Out Of His Senses
and the sequels
Plato Done With His Platitudes
Aristotle Undone By Antipathy
Papa Brick; Or, What Is Death?
I want to read this SO MUCH.
TRAGICALLY, the English is neither scanned by Google books nor included in any of the databases my university subscribes to! (Though here it is in French.) I suspect it only exists in a few copies; the Garside bibliography will list its locations, but my best guess is that if there are any copies in the US they’re at the University of Virginia.
BUT, I found two book reviews!!
The Monthly Mirror: This is a suite of Brick Bolding, or what is Life? a novel by Pigault le Brun; but its merits are so far inferior, that, considering the reading of it as doing the idlest thing, it appears doubtful to us whether the observation is applicable to it, that “to do the idlest thing is better than to be idle.”
The Critical Review has rather a lot to say of Brick Bolding: An humorous introduction, in the grave ironical style of Swift, signed ‘Translator,’ informs us that, as ‘my uncle Thomas’ was supposed to satyrise the French revolution, so this work may, with equal justice, be considered as the life (parce detorta) of Bonaparte. Indeed each supposition is equally true—or rather equally absurd. With respect to the work itself, we can scarcely give it any character. We are so hurried along with the narrative, and dazzled with the quick succession of adventures, sudden changes of fortune, and hair-breadth ‘scapes, that we have scarcely leisure to attend to the machinery by which they are conducted, or to examine the probability of the various events. In truth, many of these are highly improbable; but the reader who is interested in the narrative, will not stay to examine or interrupt his pleasure by a cool investigation of the means by which the consequences are produced.
As for our own Papa Brick, however, it simply says: Alter et idem, but not equally interesting, and far more improbable.
I have absolutely no idea what bricks have to do with the French Revolution. I’m sorry.
WorldCat finds “Papa Brick” at four (U.S.) libraries.
Not in ESTC; it was published in 1804.
Former French major here. LET’S DO THIS.
Thank you!
“He’s Always in the Way”-snorting with glee at that one!
And other classics of 18th century misandry!
Also a fan of “The Fault Was All His Own. In A Series Of Letters. By A Lady.”
(Sorry, this posted in the wrong place first!)
Valancourt Books have republished a number of these.
Yes, Valancourt Books is a minor miracle! Though I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by how many are available digitally through good ol’ Google Books. Those with access to university libraries can also pursue these texts in the ECCO and NCCO databases, and particularly Gale’s digital Corvey Collection, though honestly, the Google editions are often much more readable.
Everyone who appreciates the subtle “What D’ye Think Of The World?” get in this thread.
I don’t get it and I feel left out. This is like school all over again.
Oh I phrased that poorly! I meant that I think it’s not a specific, sharp punchline, just a funny “m’lady” sort of phrase that in the modern day would sound like an embarrassing affectation. So nothing to “get.”
Oh I get it now! Relief
#sext
Messieurs Tag, Rag, And Bobtail present their compliments to Professor Snape, and invite him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.
Things By Their Right Names; A Novel. By A Person Without A Name.
This one will be on all the New York Times reading lists for an entire year. It will turn out to have been written by David Eggers under an assumed name.
Husband Hunters!! really needs the subheadings. I can’t tell if it is informational material, calling all peoples on the hunt for the husband to read it, or if it’s fiction about four unmarried women and the scrapes they get up to trying to procure husbands (I’m thinking a marriage broker who used to be a used carriages salesman who keeps setting them up with unsuitable men, a witch who takes their money and casts zero husband finding spells, and the women eventually finding solace and sexual intimacy in their friendships with one another rather than marriage to a Male).
On the other hand, He’s Always In The Way needs no further explanation, I would read it based on the title alone.
The subhead is just “A Novel,” and the first chapter (the book is available through NCCO but not Google) is about a woman who already has a husband, eating cabbage while being afraid of a ghost and his headless horse, so who knows how the hunting of husbands gets involved– I vote for a Greatest Game kind of hunt, where vengeful ghosts hunt down faithless husbands to eat their flesh!!
omg this is amazing, I HAVE to read it. I love cabbage
(I can’t find your contact info, but perhaps you can determine how to contact a scholar of 18th century literature whose stance on library policies is more flexible via private correspondence than in a public forum…)
Argal; Or The Silver Devil, Being The Adventures Of An Evil Spirit, Comprising A Series Of Interesting Anecdotes, With Which The Demon Became Acquainted, During His Confinement In The Metalline Substance To Which He Was Condemned. Related By Himself.
This one looks fascinating!
Read, And Give It A Name.
New working title for every single thing I write ever.
My experience as a student of the 18th century novel: everyone else is killing themselves reading dense contemporary texts full of metaphors, I’m reading rollicking tales of pirates and kidnappings.
It was the best.
These are just wonderful. But how did you come across them all?
I work a lot with bibliographies for my research (computational distant-reading approaches to the 18th century Gothic) and then I got carried away and, uh, read all 1500 pages of the The English Novel 1770-1829. (Who says academics don’t know how to have fun!) So these titles are all from the ‘long’ 18th century, which keeps going into the 19th until the Victorians ruin everything. (I kid! See, more fun!)
Are you sure this isn’t just a collection of Sufjan Stevens song titles?
[on behalf of Miranda and Alex] James Hogg's _Three Perils of Man_ was published in 1822. http://books.google.com/books?id=yrkBAAAAQAAJ&…
I laughed quite hard at “He’s always in the way!”.
Favorite from my collection is “The Clever Woman of the Family” (1865) by Charlotte Mary Yonge. Touches on the social scourge that is Croquette and how easy it is to die from just about everything back then.
Also a fan of "The Fault Was All His Own. In A Series Of Letters. By A Lady."
(Sorry, this posted in the wrong place first!)
This is amazing.
I’m pretty sure I once read a book about the life and times of a pencil that went on to write the life and times of a whale bone button.
“I Can’t Afford It.” And Other Tales. – my autobiography
“He’s Always In The Way.” – my wife’s autobiography
“How It Happened That I Was Born.” – my daughter’s autobiography
“Who Can He Be, Or, Who Is His Father?” – my cousin’s autobiography