Letters, Poems, Flowers, and Bluestocking Friendship: Mary Hamilton’s Collage–Biography of Mary Delany

Abstract

This article explores a friendship between two major figures in the Bluestocking network: the courtier and diarist Mary Hamilton (1756–1816) and the artist Mary Delany (1700–1788). Drawing on the Mary Hamilton Papers and the Dickenson Family Papers, it sheds new light on the ways in which their relationship ensured continuity of female experience, solidarity, knowledge channelling, and skills transfer across generations. The article investigates these women’s collaborative activities and discusses Hamilton’s engagement with Delany’s famous paper flower collages. It also explores Hamilton’s volume of excerpts from Delany’s letters and transcriptions of poems penned by and dedicated to Delany. When read together, Hamilton’s various biographical materials related to Delany form the first contemporary collage–biography of her brilliant precursor.