The Rival Roses; or Wars of York and Lancaster
- London: Printed for the author; Sold by J.J. Stockdale, 1813
London: Printed for the author; Sold by J.J. Stockdale, 1813. First edition. Very Good. Octavo. [4], 209, [4, ads]; 163, [1, errata], 8 [publisher's catalogue] pp. Original drab boards with cream paper spine. Soiling to boards. Paper spine labels mostly rubbed away. Volume one lacks front free endpaper. Edges untrimmed. Remarkably clean and bright throughout. A Very Good, fresh copy of a scarce book.
Eliza S. Francis sets her narrative poem against the backdrop of the War of the Roses. Francis was clearly interested in both telling a dramatic tale and commenting on historical events, as the final forty-eight pages of volume two consist of her detailed notes on the poem. Francis discusses her sources (mostly Rapin's History of England), offers biographical sketches of historical figures mentioned in her poem (including William Caxton, with a discussion of Gutenberg, de Worde, and early English printing history; Martin Luther, Margaret of York, and the Earl of Warwick), expounds on the locations mentioned in her poem and the battles that took place there, and explains the morality she attempts to portray in her characters (the feminine virtues of Jane de Clifford, for example).
We could not locate much information on Eliza S. Francis. Her only other published work seems to have been the narrative poem Sir Wilibert de Waverley, or, The bridal eve (1809), which was "intended as a sequel to Mr. Coleridge's fragmentary tale, entitled Love." She clearly took a somewhat scholarly (or at least genuinely historical) approach to her fiction, however: The Rival Roses demonstrates her desire to combine narrative flair with fact and commentary. Very Good.
Eliza S. Francis sets her narrative poem against the backdrop of the War of the Roses. Francis was clearly interested in both telling a dramatic tale and commenting on historical events, as the final forty-eight pages of volume two consist of her detailed notes on the poem. Francis discusses her sources (mostly Rapin's History of England), offers biographical sketches of historical figures mentioned in her poem (including William Caxton, with a discussion of Gutenberg, de Worde, and early English printing history; Martin Luther, Margaret of York, and the Earl of Warwick), expounds on the locations mentioned in her poem and the battles that took place there, and explains the morality she attempts to portray in her characters (the feminine virtues of Jane de Clifford, for example).
We could not locate much information on Eliza S. Francis. Her only other published work seems to have been the narrative poem Sir Wilibert de Waverley, or, The bridal eve (1809), which was "intended as a sequel to Mr. Coleridge's fragmentary tale, entitled Love." She clearly took a somewhat scholarly (or at least genuinely historical) approach to her fiction, however: The Rival Roses demonstrates her desire to combine narrative flair with fact and commentary. Very Good.