Hannah Adams (1755-1831) has gone down in history as the first American, professional woman writer. But how that came about is a lesson for any writer about the trials and tribulations of getting a book published and the importance of copyright.
Hannah Adams, a sickly child, was taught at home by her father who ran a small store in Medfield, Massachusetts, where he sold goods and books. She loved reading and devoured the books in his extensive library, especially novels and poetry, as well as history and biography.
As part of her reading, she studied numerous works on religion. A Unitarian, she became annoyed that most of the authors represented their own religion as better than others. She began to compile a volume for her own entertainment describing the various religions in a fair way.
During the American Revolution, needing a source of income she helped to support the family by tatting lace, but after the war, lace began to be imported and she could not make enough money from the work. Her poor health precluded teaching, so Adams, at the age of twenty, had the idea that maybe she could sell her dictionary on religion and make some money.
Not knowing anything about how to publish a book, like many new authors, she was duped by the first printer. Although the book, A View of Religions, (1784) had four hundred subscribers, all she received in compensation from the printer was fifty copies of the book, while he retained all the subscription money.
Upon receiving notice that the printer planned to republish her book, she forbid him to do so. Fortunately, she had copyrighted her work under the brand-new 1783 Massachusetts copyright law and was able to stop him.
Falling ill again, and facing poverty, she decided to add additions to the work and publish a second edition in the hopes of some small income. But before doing so, she determined to protect her work more widely and sent a petition to Congress for “a general law to secure authors the copy-right of their publications.” (Adams, Memoir of Miss Hanna Adams, p. 20). On May 31, 1790, first Federal copyright law was passed.
Hannah Adams published her second edition of A View of Religions in 1791, and earned enough to live comfortably for awhile. Upset by the lack of history about her own country, she went on to write a five-hundred page volume, one of the first comprehensive histories at the time, the A Summary History of New-England, starting with the founding at Plymouth. Nearly half the work was on the American Revolution and drew on a wide range of sources including news articles and letters. This volume was a success, and she followed it in 1805 with An Abridgement of the History of New-England, for the Use of Young Persons, which became widely used in schools.
This work also involved copyright issues. In 1808, Jedidiah Morse and Elijah Parish published a volume on New England history without referencing her work. Adams brought litigation against them for copyright infringement. Although she received no monetary settlement, the judge recommended that her work should be referenced in volumes on the same topic. Her 1814 account of this suit can be found here. A Narrative of the Controversy Between the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, D. D., and the Author
Her next work was a A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, Jewish, Heathen, Mahometan and Christian, Ancient and Modern: With an Appendix, Containing a Sketch of the Present State of the World, as to Population, Religion, Toleration, Missions, Etc., and the Articles in which All Christian Denomination Agree published in 1817.
Despite being sickly, reclusive, and female, Hannah Adams was able to have a marked influence on the literature of early America. She was the first woman and profession author admitted to the Boston Athenaeum and was visited by presidents and dignitaries in her later life.
Her last work, specified to be published after her death, was a Memoir of Miss Hannah Adams Written by Herself. It is because of this work that we know so much about her. The following except is taken from this book.
Previously to concluding this gloomy detail of the difficulties I encountered, while writing for the press, I would first notice, that I was obliged to exert myself to the utmost to overcome my natural timidity, and accommodate myself to my situation. After the age and infirmities of my father prevented him from assisting me, as he had formerly done, in selling and exchanging the copies of my work, I was necessitated to exert myself in doing business out of the female line, which exposed me to public notice. And as I could not but be sensible that my manners were remarkably awkward, this consciousness, joined with my ignorance of the established rules of propriety, rendered me tremblingly apprehensive of exposing myself to ridicule. These unpleasant feelings, however, in time abated. In order to meet this trial, I considered, that what is right and necessary in the situation in which Providence has placed me, cannot be really improper; and though my acting upon this principle may have exposed me to the censure, or ridicule of those, whose ideas upon the subject are derived from the varying modes of fashion, and not from the unchanging laws of moral rectitude, it saved me from a feeling which would have been infinitely more painful, that of self-reproach. My objects were, to obtain the approbation of my own heart, and the esteem of a few friends whose opinion I most highly prized, and I was comparatively indifferent to the censure or ridicule of the world in general.
In the life of Mrs. Charlotte Smith it is pertly remarked, that the “penalties and discouragements attending authors in general fall upon woman with double weight.” To the curiosity of the idle, and the envy of the malicious, their sex affords a peculiar excitement. Arraigned not merely as writers, but as women, their characters, their conduct, and even their personal endowments, become the object of severe inquisition. From the common allowances claimed by the species, literary women appear only to be exempted. (Adams, 1832, pp. 33-35)
The Writings of Hannah Adams
All of Adams’ writing are in the public domain.
A Summary History of New-England,
A Narrative of the Controversy Between the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, D. D., and the Author
Memoir of Miss Hannah Adams Written by Herself.
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Portraits of American Women in Religion
My friend William Shaw, Esq. gave me the liberty of frequenting the Athenæum. Amidst that large and valuable collection of books, I found an inexhaustible source of information and entertainment; and among other advantages, I found a few literary friends, in whose conversation I enjoyed the feast of reason and the flow of soul.
Hannah Adams