The Mary Hays manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of 26 letters to the philosopher and novelist William Godwin; 7 letters to the writer and translator William Tooke; 1 letter to an unidentified recipient; and a manuscript volume containing a hand-copied 102 letter chain of corrrespondence between Hays and John Eccles, her fiancé who died weeks before their planned marriage. All items are published in Marilyn L. Brooks's edition of Mary Hays's letters.
Also held is Hays's copy of Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), with Hays's signature on the title-page. Many pages contain light pencil markings, almost exclusively vertical lines and curly brackets highlighting sections of the text. Nine pages (p. 11, 16, 50, 104, 169, 214, 219, 394, 414) contain light, mostly very minor, pencil annotations, in at least two, possibly as many as four different hands. The annotations are extremely light, and some are smeared beyond legibility. None of the annotations are certain to be Hays's; it is possible that none are.
Access (note)
Restricted access;
Biography (note)
Mary Hays, English writer.
Author
Hays, Mary, 1759-1843.
Title
Mary Hays manuscript material.
Production
1779-1807
Access
Restricted access; Pforzheimer Collection; Permit must be requested at the division indicated.