In Search of Monk Hall

Abstract

Michael Winship, “In Search of Monk Hall: A Publishing History of George Lippard’s The Quaker City” (pp. 132–149) A reconstruction of the complicated publication history of George Lippard’s The Quaker City, or the Monks of Monk Hall (1844-45), based on an examination of the available evidence, including the few surviving manuscript sources, newspaper notices and advertisements, scarce surviving early copies of the work itself, and contemporaneous accounts. Among the issues addressed are: the chronology of publication of the original ten numbers of the work; the evolving relationship between Lippard and his publisher, George B. Zieber; and the methods of distribution and number of copies produced and sold. This account suggests that a better understanding of how The Quaker City was produced and circulated in its own time will enrich scholars’ understanding of the novel and the cultural work that it performed.