Marguerite, Countess of Blessington

This new biography of Lady Blessington, the first in more than eighty years, illuminates the private and public life of this important but neglected salonnière and author. This study enriches our knowledge of the social, political, and literary history of the post-Romantic and early Victorian era. It examines Lady Blessington's close friendships with politicians and writers, especially Edward Bulwer Lytton and Benjamin Disraeli. Statesmen, diplomats, writers, and artists were her constant visitors, as they found her friendship and conversation invaluable to their professional and social lives.
The circumstances of a life lived in luxury and indulgence changed upon the death of Lady Blessington's husband, forcing her to support herself and several dependents with her writing. Throughout this biography, Lady Blessington's voice is evident and should reawaken scholarly and popular interest in her voluminous works. She wrote twenty novels in genres including silver-fork fiction, psychological drama, and verse narrative. She also produced four travel books, many short stories, and numerous poems and edited the popular literary gift annuals Heath's Book of Beauty and The Keepsake.
This book reveals the humanity of a woman whom contemporary gossip considered scandalous because of her alleged relationship with her stepdaughter's estranged husband, Count D'Orsay. Lady Blessington's struggle in the face of many challenges is an inspiring story of individual strength. It is a tale of a woman whose legacy of integrity, determination, and sheer hard work provides us with enlarged insights into an era and society often overlooked by history.

Susan Matoff is an independent scholar.

Dedication
EpigraphAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsAbbreviationsPrefaceProloguePart I: 1788-1830
Chapter 1The Transformation
Chapter 2Early Married Life
Chapter 3Direction Genoa
Chapter 4Idling In Naples
Chapter 5Friendship, Scandal and Farewell
Chapter 6Paris: The End of the Beginning
Chapter 7Recovery and Revolution
Part II: 1831 - 1839
Chapter 8 A New Beginning in London
Chapter 9Launching into Literature
Chapter 10Adding an Annual
Chapter 111834, The Year of Literary Lions
Chapter 12Last Days in Seamore Place
Chapter 13Gore House
Chapter 14Confessions and Victims
Chapter 15Struggling On
Part III: 1840 And Later
Chapter 16On the Edge of the Slope
Chapter 17Fighting Back
Chapter 18Still Fighting
Chapter 19Sliding Down
Chapter 20Finale
Chapter 21After Effects
Chapter 22Presumptions of Posterity
Appendix IBooks by Lady Blessington
Appendix IIContributions by Lady Blessington to Annuals and Periodicals
Bibliography
About the Author
Index