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==Life==
==Life==
{{See also|History of English grammars}}
{{See also|History of English grammars}}
Fisher was born in [[Lorton, Cumbria|Lorton]], [[Cumberland]], [[England]], the daughter of Henry Fisher, [[yeoman]], of Oldscale (in [[Wythop]]). She ran a school for girls for five years while single, though not much more is known of her life until her marriage, in December 1751, to [[Thomas Slack]], a publisher and bookseller from [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]. Together they had nine daughters, one of whom died in infancy. (Two others died in early childhood; only five of the nine outlived their mother).<ref>Gil, María Esther Rodríguez. "[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/rodriguez-gil.htm Ann Fisher: first female grammarian]." ''Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics'' 2 (Nov. 2002). Accessed 11 Feb. 2023.</ref> Together the couple conducted a number of businesses, including Slack's press and the newspaper they founded, ''[[Evening Chronicle|The Newcastle Chronicle]]''. Fisher's books were published by the press she ran with her husband. She died in 1778.<ref name="Feminist" >Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'' (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 375–380.</ref>
Fisher was born in [[Lorton, Cumbria|Lorton]], [[Cumberland]], [[England]], the daughter of Henry Fisher, [[yeoman]], of Oldscale (in [[Wythop]]). She ran a school for girls for five years while single, though not much more is known of her life until her marriage, in December 1751, to [[Thomas Slack]], a publisher and bookseller from [[Newcastle upon Tyne]]. Together they had nine daughters, one of whom died in infancy. (Two others died in early childhood; only five of the nine outlived their mother).<ref>Gil, María Esther Rodríguez. "[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/rodriguez-gil.htm Ann Fisher: first female grammarian]." ''Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics'' 2 (Nov. 2002). Accessed 2023-02-10.</ref> Together the couple conducted a number of businesses, including Slack's press and the newspaper they founded, ''[[Evening Chronicle|The Newcastle Chronicle]]''. Fisher's books were published by the press she ran with her husband. She died in 1778.<ref name="Feminist" >Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'' (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 375–380.</ref>


==Works==
==Works==
Line 25: Line 25:


==External sites==
==External sites==
* Gil, María Esther Rodríguez. "[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/rodriguez-gil.htm Ann Fisher: first female grammarian]." ''Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics'' 2 (Nov. 2002).
* Gil, María Esther Rodríguez. "[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/rodriguez-gil.htm Ann Fisher: first female grammarian]." ''Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics'' 2 (Nov. 2002). Accessed 2023-02-10.
* "[https://orlando.cambridge.org/profiles/fishan Ann Fisher]." ''Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''. Cambridge UP.
* "[https://orlando.cambridge.org/profiles/fishan Ann Fisher]." ''Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present''. Cambridge UP. Accessed 2023-02-10.
* Ostade, Ingrid Tieken-Boon van. "[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/femgram.htm Female Grammarians of the Eighteenth Century]." ''Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics'' 1 (Aug. 2000).
* Ostade, Ingrid Tieken-Boon van. "[http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/femgram.htm Female Grammarians of the Eighteenth Century]." ''Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics'' 1 (Aug. 2000). Accessed 2023-02-10.
* "[https://womensprinthistoryproject.com/person/1092 Fisher, Ann]." ''The Women's Print History Project'', 2019, Person ID 1092. Accessed 2023-02-10.



{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

Revision as of 18:00, 12 February 2023

Ann Fisher (grammarian) at St John the Baptist's Church, Newcastle upon Tyne

Ann Fisher (c. 9 December 1719 – 2 May 1778) was an English grammarian and successful author of several books. With A New Grammar (1745), she became the first woman to publish on modern English grammar, although Elizabeth Elstob had published a grammar of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) in 1715. She was also the first woman to publish an English dictionary, and the first grammarian to suggest that masculine pronouns (i.e. “he”, etc.) be used generically.[1]

Life

See also: History of English grammars

Fisher was born in Lorton, Cumberland, England, the daughter of Henry Fisher, yeoman, of Oldscale (in Wythop). She ran a school for girls for five years while single, though not much more is known of her life until her marriage, in December 1751, to Thomas Slack, a publisher and bookseller from Newcastle upon Tyne. Together they had nine daughters, one of whom died in infancy. (Two others died in early childhood; only five of the nine outlived their mother).[2] Together the couple conducted a number of businesses, including Slack's press and the newspaper they founded, The Newcastle Chronicle. Fisher's books were published by the press she ran with her husband. She died in 1778.[3]

Works

Early copies of her highly popular works are rare. The earliest of A New Grammar: Being the Most Easy Guide to Speaking and Writing the English Language Properly and Correctly is a copy of the second, 1750 edition, published in Newcastle. It was followed by at least 30 other editions by 1800. (It was entitled A Practical New Grammar... from 1759 and refers to an earlier Child's Christian Education.)[3]

Her book took examples of poor English as a way to teach grammar. It also attacked the use of Latin rules in the vernacular, and was the first to suggest the he might be used for both sexes.[4] Her work was often plagiarized and quoted outright by many subsequent authors. Among those it influenced were the language reformers Thomas Sheridan and Thomas Spence. Her other, now rare, books included The New English Tutor (1762, but no surviving copy before 1764) and The Young Scholar's Delight, and New English Exercise Book (both 1770).[3]

An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language

Fisher attempted to add a student's dictionary to her catalogue of school books in 1771. However, the 1st edition of her An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language was so close in appearance to John Entick's New Spelling Dictionary[5] that the Dilly brothers, who published Entick's dictionaries, entered a lawsuit against her publisher, whom they accused of piracy. As a consequence of this suit, her dictionary was suppressed.[6] In 1773, the year Entick died, she reprinted her first edition as, according to her title page, the second edition of that work. Entick's New Spelling Dictionary of 1767 and Fisher's dictionary of 1773 are nearly indistinguishable in shape, layout, font, and running heads. Copies of this so-called 2nd edition of 1773 (Alston v.325);[7] the 3rd edition of 1777 (not reported by Alston);[8] and a 6th edition in 1788 (not reported by Alston)[9] can be readily discovered. Alston notes a 4th edition in 1781 (Alston v.327),[10] but this edition, like her genuine first edition, may be lost forever.[11]

References

  1. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T. "Sex symbols." Grammarphobia. 7 Oct. 20. Accessed 12. Feb. 2023.
  2. ^ Gil, María Esther Rodríguez. "Ann Fisher: first female grammarian." Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics 2 (Nov. 2002). Accessed 2023-02-10.
  3. ^ a b c Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: The Feminist Companion to Literature in English (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 375–380.
  4. ^ John, McWhorter. "The Royal They: Fighting against the tyranny of pronouns". The New Republic. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  5. ^ Entick, John (1767). The New Spelling Dictionary. London: Edward & Charles Dilly. This edition is apparently the edition of Entick's Dictionary that Fisher consulted.
  6. ^ Rodríguez-Álvarez, Alicia; Rodríguez-Gil, María Esther (2006). "John Entick's and Ann Fisher's Dictionaries: An Eighteenth-Century Case of (Cons)piracy?". International Journal of Lexicography. 19 (3): 287–319. doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl015.
  7. ^ Fisher, Anne (1773). An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language (2 ed.). London: for the author. Data from title page.
  8. ^ Fisher, Anne (1777). An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language (3 ed.). London: for the author. Data from title page.
  9. ^ Fisher, Anne (1788). An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language (6 ed.). London: for the author. Data from title page.
  10. ^ Fisher, Anne (1781). An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language (4 ed.). Newcastle: Thomas Slack. Data from Alston.
  11. ^ Alston, Robin Carfrae (1974). A Bibliography of the English Language from the Invention of Printing to the Year 1800 (2 ed.). Ilkley: Janus Press. p. v.60.

Etexts

External sites

  • Gil, María Esther Rodríguez. "Ann Fisher: first female grammarian." Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics 2 (Nov. 2002). Accessed 2023-02-10.
  • "Ann Fisher." Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Cambridge UP. Accessed 2023-02-10.
  • Ostade, Ingrid Tieken-Boon van. "Female Grammarians of the Eighteenth Century." Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics 1 (Aug. 2000). Accessed 2023-02-10.
  • "Fisher, Ann." The Women's Print History Project, 2019, Person ID 1092. Accessed 2023-02-10.


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