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image of person or book cover 7426591303636835109.jpg
one of the illustrations from the original (1844) edition
y separately published work icon The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1845... 1845 The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Richard Cobbold's The History of Margaret Catchpole is a novelised account of the life of the woman who had once been a servant to the Cobbold family. Cobbold represents Catchpole as a tomboyish girl, daughter of a rural farm worker in Suffolk who becomes a particularly skilled horse rider.

Exhibitions

6645566
VIEW ALL EXHIBITIONS

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole ( dir. Raymond Longford ) Australia : Spencer's Pictures , 1911 6003146 1911 single work film/TV

Notes

  • The work was widely adapted on the English popular stage. The earliest adaptation, Margaret Catchpole: The Female Horse-Stealer; or The Life and Adventures of a Suffolk Girl , was staged at the Theatre Royal, Victoria (London) less than six weeks after the first publication of the novel. One of the most popular was a three-act play, Margaret Catchpole, The Heroine of Suffolk, or, The Vicissitudes of Real Life, adapted from the novel by Edward Stirling, a veteran playwright who had adapted a number of Dickens's novels for the popular stage. This play was performed at the Royal Victoria Theatre, Sydney, on 22 October 1846.
  • Though a tremendously successful work, Richard Cobbold made little money from its publication, as he had sold his copyright to his publisher, Henry Colburn.
  • Dedicated to the Marchioness (Louisa) Cornwallis (nee Gordon) (1776-1850), a prominent Suffolk aristocrat.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1845
    • London,
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      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Henry Colburn ,       1845 .
      image of person or book cover 3264300446767181520.jpg
      Extent: 3v. 8vo (xii, 316p., 3 leaves of plates; [iv], 291p., 2 leaves of plates; iv, 284p., 3 leaves of plates).p.
      Description: 8 illus.
      Note/s:
      • Ferguson 4009
      • Advertised by Henry Colburn at the start of February 1845 as "Preparing for immediate publication," the publisher called for subscribers who would receive the work for "only One Guinea" [21 shillings]. At the beginning of March, the published novel was advertised at "31s. 6d. bound," the standard price for a nineteenth-century novel (Ipswich Journal, 1 Feb 1845; The Examiner, 1 Mar 1845. 1b).
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
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      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Henry Colburn ,       1845 .
      Extent: 2 vol, 8vo (viii, 341p., 4 leaves of plates; iv, 318p., 4 leaves of plates).p.
      Edition info: 2nd ed.
      Description: 8 illus.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Henry Colburn ,       1846 .
      Extent: x, 393p., [8] leaves of platesp.
      Edition info: 4th ed.
      Description: illus.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Henry Colburn ,       1846 .
      Extent: x, 393p., [8] leaves of platesp.
      Edition info: 3rd ed.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • The Sydney bookseller W. A. Colman advertised the arrival in stock of the third edition of Cobbold's novel, along with various other new arrivals, in December 1846.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Henry Colburn ,       1847 .
      Extent: vi, 359p., [7] leaves of platesp.
      Edition info: 5th ed.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • With illustrations from sketches by the author
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       W. Kent and Co. ,       1856 .
      image of person or book cover 3699317585920120679.jpg
      Link: 6481430Google books - Bodleian copy
      Extent: x, 368, [1]p., ill.p.
      Note/s:
      • An advertisements page following the text places The History of Margaret Catchpole alongside The Count of Monte Cristo and Captain Mayne Reid's The Rifle Rangers in the publisher's series of "People's Editions." Margaret Catchpole was produced in weekly numbers (priced at one and half pence) or monthly parts (at sixpence).
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Simpkin, Marshall ,       1858 .
      image of person or book cover 1699016008682304993.jpg
      Link: 6481460Google books - British Library copy
      Extent: [x], 378, [2]p., ill.p.
      Note/s:
      • The Simpkin and Marshall edition of 1858, co-published with and produced by the Ipswich printers J. M. Burton and Co., was the first to include Richard Cobbold's "Supplement" to the text. It was part of the publishers' "Read and Run" series of novels.
    • London,
      c
      England,
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      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
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      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Milner ,       1878 .
      Extent: 256p.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Ward, Lock ,       1880 .
      Extent: iv, 378, [2]p.p.
      Description: illus.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Ward, Lock ,       1884 .
      Extent: iv, 380p.p.
      Description: illus.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Routledge ,       1887 .
      Extent: 189p.
      Edition info: Author's complete ed.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
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      Western Europe, Europe,      :       John Hayes ,       1920-1929 .
      Extent: 330p.
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

Margaret Catchpole's First Ride? Tina Picton Phillipps , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Representing Convicts : New Perspectives on Convict Forced Labour Migration 1997; (p. 62-77)
Loneliness in a Foreign Land Barbara Penny , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , March vol. 17 no. 3 1973; (p. 20-24)
— Review of The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl Richard Cobbold , 1845 single work novel
The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl 1845 single work review
— Appears in: The South Australian , 8 August vol. 8 no. 650 1845; (p. 3)
— Review of The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl Richard Cobbold , 1845 single work novel

Review here.
Margaret Catchpole 1845 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Morning Herald , 10 July 1845; (p. 3) Geelong Advertiser and Squatter's Advocate , 19 July vol. 5 no. 331 1845; (p. 3)
— Review of The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl Richard Cobbold , 1845 single work novel

"MARGARET CATCHPOLE.–Our readers will remember that we noticed a few days since a work about to be published in London under the title of Margaret Catchpole. By the March packet copies of it have come to hand, and we are gratified to find that it is a very different work from what it was represented to be...."
Loneliness in a Foreign Land Barbara Penny , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: Hemisphere , March vol. 17 no. 3 1973; (p. 20-24)
— Review of The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl Richard Cobbold , 1845 single work novel
Margaret Catchpole 1845 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Morning Herald , 10 July 1845; (p. 3) Geelong Advertiser and Squatter's Advocate , 19 July vol. 5 no. 331 1845; (p. 3)
— Review of The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl Richard Cobbold , 1845 single work novel

"MARGARET CATCHPOLE.–Our readers will remember that we noticed a few days since a work about to be published in London under the title of Margaret Catchpole. By the March packet copies of it have come to hand, and we are gratified to find that it is a very different work from what it was represented to be...."
The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl 1845 single work review
— Appears in: The South Australian , 8 August vol. 8 no. 650 1845; (p. 3)
— Review of The History of Margaret Catchpole, A Suffolk Girl Richard Cobbold , 1845 single work novel

Review here.
Margaret Catchpole's First Ride? Tina Picton Phillipps , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Representing Convicts : New Perspectives on Convict Forced Labour Migration 1997; (p. 62-77)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (4)
Last amended 24 Nov 2013 17:36:02
Subjects:
Settings:
  • Suffolk,
    c
    England,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • New South Wales,
  • 1773-1839
Influenced by:
Letters
[Letter to Mrs Cobbold]
[Letter to Mrs Cobbold, Including a Letter to Dr George Stebbin]
Influence on:
Margaret Catchpole
Margaret Catchpole
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