Author: Cookson, Mary Ann
Biography:
COOKSON, Mary Ann (fl 1829)
No reliable biographical information has been located. The preface to her book of sentimental verse is dated from Edinburgh and states that she wrote the poems between the ages of fourteen and twenty. One of the poems, celebrating her fourth wedding anniversary, tells us that she was married but her birth surname is unknown. Other poems indicate that she spent time in Northumberland. The book concludes with a brief list of subscribers and a note that “several hundreds” had patronised the work. David Sillar (q.v.) was a subscriber. Two holograph letters survive in a privately owned copy of her Poems and are dated Sept. 1829; they refer to a fourth edition which has not been traced. A review in the Edinburgh Literary Journal was scathing. (Forum Auctions Catalogue, 26 Nov. 2025; Edinburgh Literary Journal 2 [1829], 195) SR
Other Names:
- M. A. Cookson