Bibliographical Note: Searching for Mary Anne

Abstract

Gordon N. Ray’s collection of rare books at the Pierpont Morgan Library includes three editions of Fanny Burney’s Evelina, the second edition of which (1779) bears the signature “Mary Anne Parker,” written in a slightly awkward hand in an undistinguished style. Nevertheless, as a female owner of “a young lady’s entrance into the world,” she piqued the interest of library staff and we foraged into the land of peerages and armorials to trace the patently male bookplate pasted over the “y” of her name in the first of three volumes. Luckily, we were given this clue, for many female owners . . .