Places are slowly opening up in some states around the country…but it’s still a good idea to stay home unless it’s essential to leave. In the interest of continuing to flatten the curve, and corrupt our minds, let’s crack open some horrid novels! If they were delightful enough to cause offense to polite society, they must have much to recommend them.

Lady Reading in an Interior, by Marguerite Gérard, between 1795 and 1800, private collection.
Monks and Friars
Terms used by printers: monks are sheets where the letters are blotted, or printed too black; friars, those letters where the ink has failed touching the type, which are therefore white or faint.
So as we emulate a Regency lady under the shade of a yew tree, or beside a bubbling fountain in her fragrant garden, wherever shall we turn for a list of books, as most ‘circulating libraries’ remain closed?
Glad you asked.
Author and historian Rachel Knowles compiled a list of lovely, vulgar novels that gentle readers might peruse for their delectation. Most are available in the public domain. How many have you read, or will you attempt to read this quarantine season?
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe -1719
Captain Singleton – Daniel Defoe – 1720
Captain Jack – Daniel Defoe – 1722
Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe – 1722
Roxanda – Daniel Defoe – 1724
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift – 1726
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded – Samuel Richardson – 1740
The Adventures of Joseph Andrews – Henry Fielding – 1742
Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady – Samuel Richardson – 1747-8 (epistolary novel)
Tom Jones – Henry Fielding – 1749
Amelia – Henry Fielding – 1751
The History of Sir Charles Grandison – Samuel Richardson – 1753-4
Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith – 1766
Evelina or The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World – Fanny Burney – 1778
Cecilia or Memoirs of an Heiress – Fanny Burney – 1782
The Sylph – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1788)
The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne – Mrs Radcliffe – 1789
A Sicilian Romance – Mrs Radcliffe – 1790
The Romance of the Forest – Mrs Radcliffe – 1791
The Monk – Matthew Gregory Lewis – 1792
The Mysteries of Udolpho – Mrs Radcliffe -1794
Camilla or A Picture of Youth – Fanny Burney – 1796
The Italian – Mrs Radcliffe – 1797
Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth – 1800
Memoirs of Modern Philosophers – Elizabeth Hamilton – 1800
Belinda – Maria Edgeworth – 1801
Popular Tales – Maria Edgeworth – 1804
The Modern Griselda – Maria Edgeworth – 1805
Leonora – Maria Edgeworth – 1806
Corinne – Madame de Stael – 1807
Tales from Fashionable Life – Maria Edgeworth – 1809/1812 (6 volumes) including The Absentee
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – 30 October 1811
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen – 28 January 1813
Mansfield Park – Jane Austen – 9 May 1814
The Wanderer or Female Difficulties – Fanny Burney – 1814
Waverley – Sir Walter Scott – 1814 (first of the Waverley novels)
Emma – Jane Austen – December 1815
Guy Mannering –Sir Walter Scott – 1815 (a Waverley novel)
The Antiquary – Sir Walter Scott -1816 (a Waverley novel)
Mandeville – William Godwin – 1817
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen – December 1817
Persuasion – Jane Austen – December 1817
Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott – 1817 (a Waverly novel)
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley – 1818
Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott – 1819
Kenilworth – Sir Walter Scott – 1821 (a Waverley novel)
Peveril of the Peak – Sir Walter Scott – 1822 (a Waverley novel)
The Pirate – Sir Walter Scott -1822 (a Waverley novel)
Quentin Durward – Sir Walter Scott – 1823 (a Waverley novel)
St Ronan’s Well – Sir Walter Scott – 1824 (a Waverley novel)
The Betrothed – Sir Walter Scott – 1825 (a Waverley novel)
Redgauntlet – Sir Walter Scott – 1825 (a Waverley novel)
The Talisman – Sir Walter Scott – 1825 (a Waverley novel)
Gaston de Blondeville – Mrs Radcliffe – 1826
Woodstock – Sir Walter Scott – 1826
The Fair Maid of Perth – Sir Walter Scott – 1828 (a Waverley novel)
Anne of Geierstein – Sir Walter Scott – 1829 (a Waverley novel)
Cloudesley – William Godwin – 1830
As we binge to our hearts’ content, may our monks be legible and our friars visible.
Slang term taken from the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
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