ABSTRACT

European, and particularly British, writers dominated the American literary landscape at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Not only were the Europeans able to draw on established traditions, they also spoke to a much larger audience, and in the absence of a copyright agreement their books could be published in the new United States as cheaply as any local productions and, much to the advantage of the publisher, without payment to the European author. The American readership was small and, apart from the few urban centres of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, both scattered and agricultural. Booksellers acted as publishers and frequently ran small lending libraries. A fair proportion of the population was illiterate, many were foreign born, and most were busily engaged in finding a livelihood. To make matters worse a widespread prejudice in religious and community leaders held that reading fiction and poetry tended, if not to deprave entirely, at least to encourage wrong principles and inhibit forceful action. Young people in particular were thought to be at risk of moral damage and of being led into a dangerous fantasy life by the suggestions of romances and the then popular form of the gothic. So at this point a life as a professional author was unfeasible and attempted by very few.