c.1830
By Mary Elliott
Copperplate engravings with English text.

Mary (Belson) Elliot was a writer of children’s books in the early Nineteenth-Century. It is difficult to ascertain the correct name for this author as it varies throughout different publications, sometimes appearing as; Mary Elliott, Mary Elliot, Mary (Belson) Elliot or Mary Belson. Elliot wrote a plethora of moral tales, hymns and poetry. Elliot's actual date of birth is currently unknown, however Elliot describes herself as a young lady in 1809 suggesting she was between 17 and 20 years old. Therefore, one can roughly assume she was born sometime between 1789 and 1792.

She began her writing career in 1809 when William Darton printed ‘for the author’ The Mice and their Pic Nic... By a Looking-Glass Maker, which is a lively story in verse about town and the country mice (the latter proving to be humbler, but happier); also, a book published anonymously titled Innocent Poetry. The latter was later claimed as Mary’s work, however in the first edition, some poems were signed ‘Eliza’, and some are unsigned. The preface to Innocent poetry states ‘The following Pages are chiefly the production of two young ladies, whose duty to an aged and infirm parent induced them to assign the trifling profits arising therefrom to her assistance and precarious support’ indicating that Eliza, the other young lady, is likely to be Mary Elliot’s sister. According to the Marjorie Moon's bibliography of Elliot's work, there roughly 470 publications under Elliot's name in total.

Mary Belson married to become Mary Elliot in 1819. No official record of her marriage has been discovered thus far, however, it is believed that Belson married a printer named Edward Elliot, who lived at 14 Holywell Street, The Strand. In 1844 The Small Edition of the Post Office lists a Mrs Mary Elliot as living there, referring to her as a ‘printer and publisher’ which allows one to reasonably assume that this is our author. After 1866 her name stops appearing in the Directory. It is also probable that Mary Elliot was a Quaker. This has been asserted by other writers.

New end papers.
Incomplete.
95mm x 147mm

R1,000