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The Compiler's Art: Hannah Adams, the Dictionary of All Religions, and the Religious World

The Compiler's Art: Hannah Adams, the Dictionary of All Religions, and the Religious World The Compiler’s Art: Hannah Adams, the Dictionary of All Religions, and the Religious World Toni Wall Jaudon* It may not be much of an overstatement to say that Hannah Adams began her career by marketing the religious world. Often credited by biographers as the first American woman to earn her living by her pen, Adams started writing in response to financial exi- gencies. Where later women writers turned to fiction or journalism, Adams directed her efforts otherwise: she wrote a reference book. Crouching for hours in bookstores and begging access to the libraries of learned friends, Adams transcribed, excerpted, and edited portions of theological treatises, travel narratives, geographies, and histories into a comprehensive survey of the world’s religions (Schmidt 7). Her labors resulted in the 1784 publication of An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects Which Have Appeared from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Present Day, which would later be reissued in revised form as A View of Religions in 1791 and 1801 and as A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, Jewish, Heathen, Mahometan, and Christian, Ancient and Modern in 1817. Composed of short, synthetic entries, Adams’s book detailed the beliefs and practices of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Literary History Oxford University Press

The Compiler's Art: Hannah Adams, the Dictionary of All Religions, and the Religious World

American Literary History , Volume 26 (1) – Jan 3, 2014

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References (28)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com
Subject
Articles
ISSN
0896-7148
eISSN
1468-4365
DOI
10.1093/alh/ajt061
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Compiler’s Art: Hannah Adams, the Dictionary of All Religions, and the Religious World Toni Wall Jaudon* It may not be much of an overstatement to say that Hannah Adams began her career by marketing the religious world. Often credited by biographers as the first American woman to earn her living by her pen, Adams started writing in response to financial exi- gencies. Where later women writers turned to fiction or journalism, Adams directed her efforts otherwise: she wrote a reference book. Crouching for hours in bookstores and begging access to the libraries of learned friends, Adams transcribed, excerpted, and edited portions of theological treatises, travel narratives, geographies, and histories into a comprehensive survey of the world’s religions (Schmidt 7). Her labors resulted in the 1784 publication of An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects Which Have Appeared from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Present Day, which would later be reissued in revised form as A View of Religions in 1791 and 1801 and as A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, Jewish, Heathen, Mahometan, and Christian, Ancient and Modern in 1817. Composed of short, synthetic entries, Adams’s book detailed the beliefs and practices of

Journal

American Literary HistoryOxford University Press

Published: Jan 3, 2014

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