A discussion of the earliest Virginia novels can be found in Richard
Beale Davis, _Literature and Society in Early Virginia, 1608-1840_
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973), chapter XI, "The
Virginia Novel Before _Swallow Barn_."
_Swallow Barn_, by John Pendleton Kennedy (1832), was the first
best-selling Virginia novel. It was published in Philadelphia and
London in 1832, in Stockholm in 1835.
Davis says "As early as 1797 Virginian Samuel Relf (b. 1776) had written
a sentimental novel of Philadelphia family life, _Infidelity_, which has
a definite place in the domestication of the type in America." (p. 237)
[It was published in Philadelphia.]
"The earliest writer who present a real Virginia setting in the novel
was the Englishman John Davis (1774-1854), who spent many of the years
between 1798 and 1817 at Occoquan on the Potomac, and in Richmond,
Petersburg, and Washington. Schoolmaster, private tutor, poet,
journalist, world-traveler, and prolific novelist, he touched Virginia
life in every one of these capacities. As a writer, he is best
remembered for his popularization of the Pocahontas-John Smith legend."
[p. 237-238, citing John Davis, _Captain Smith and Princess Pocahontas_
(Philadelphia, 1817), first published 1805]
"Perhaps its celebration of a mythic historical episode in Virginia
history is alone enough to qualify [John Davis's] _The First Settlers of
Virginia_ as the beginning of the Virginia novel genre." [p. 238-239.
The book was published 1805 in New York.]
Am not sure if the above answers your question. You ask for the "first
novel published in Virginia." By that do really mean first novel
printed in Virginia (regardless of author or subject)? If so, it is
possible that a novel by a non-Virginian might be the earliest published
here.
I found the following early Virginia imprints using WorldCat
(www.worldcat.org):
Thomas Bellamy, _The Beggar Boy, a novel_ (Alexandria, Va.: Cottom &
Stewart, 1802)
Eliza Kirkham Mathews, _What Has Been, a novel_ (Alexandria, [D.C.]:
Cottom & Stewart, 1803)
Miss Gunning, _The Exile of Erin, a novel_ (Alexandria, Va.: Cottom &
Stewart, 1809)
George Waterston, _Glencarn, or the Disappointments of Youth, a novel_
(Alexandria, Va.: Cottom & Stewart, 1810)
George Walker, _The Vagabond, or Practical Infidelity, a novel_
(Harrisonburg (Va.): Davison & Bourne, 1814).
Technically, you might say works published in Alexandria between 1801
and 1846 were published in the District of Columbia, not in Virginia.
Alexandria was part of the nation's capital during that period.
Donald L. Wilson, Virginiana Librarian,
Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center
for Genealogy and Local History (RELIC),
Prince William Public Library System,
Bull Run Regional Library,
8051 Ashton Avenue, Manassas, VA 20110-2892
703-792-4540 www.pwcgov.org/library/relic
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edward Gaynor
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 2:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: First novel published in Virginia
Does anyone know what was the first novel published in Virginia?
Many thanks,
Edward Gaynor
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