Autobiography in Early Modern England

How did individuals write about their lives before a modern tradition of diaries and autobiographies was established? Adam Smyth examines the kinds of texts that sixteenth- or seventeenth-century individuals produced to register their life, in the absence of these later, dominant templates. The book explores how readers responded to, and improvised with, four forms - the almanac, the financial account, the commonplace book and the parish register - to create written records of their lives. Early modern autobiography took place across these varied forms, often through a lengthy process of transmission and revision of written documents. This book brings a dynamic, surprising culture of life-writing to light, and will be of interest to anyone studying autobiography or early modern literature.

Acknowledgements; Note on references; Introduction; 1. Almanacs and annotators; 2. Financial accounting; 3. Commonplace book lives: 'a very applicative story'; 4. Entries and exits: finding life in parish registers; Conclusion.

By examining four different forms of writing - the almanac, the financial account, the commonplace book and the parish register - Adam Smyth explores the kinds of texts that sixteenth- or seventeenth-century individuals produced to register their life, in the absence of the later, dominant templates.

Adam Smyth is a lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the author of 'Profit and Delight': Printed Miscellanies in England, 1649–1682 (2004) and he also edited 'A Pleasing Sinne': Drink and Conviviality in Seventeenth-Century England (2004).