The Letters of Dorothy Moore, 1612-64 The Friendships, Marriage and Intellectual Life of a Seventeenth-Century Woman - Early Modern Englishwoman, 1500-1750. Contemporary Editions

Dorothy Moore (born c. 1612, died c. 1664), wrote a considerable number of letters on intellectual, political and domestic matters, many of which are presented in this edition. The topics on which she wrote extensively include education, religion, politics - and most of all, the position of women. The letters are interesting primarily for the light they shed on the life of a independent woman of modest means yet considerable social contacts, during the Commonwealth period. - - The introductory essay that accompanies this edition of Moore's letters not only helps the reader of the letters grasp their context in Moore's life, but also details and analyses the rhetorical skills she used. It also discusses the letters in the light of Moore's spiritual and intellectual development, attempting to give a feel for the way that her radical Christianity infused every element of her understanding from science, to education, to politics, to friendship. - - The edition offers biographical material never previously compiled on Moore with an interpretive essay, a bibliography of related texts, and the letters in chronological order with background names and places footnoted in some detail. -