Julia Margaret Cameron, photograph of Anne Thackeray (c.1870) Eton College Library [MS 430/02/ 31]

In 1862, Annie visited the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron at her home on the Isle of Wight. She quickly became part of her high-profile circle, which included F.G. Watts and the Tennysons, among others.

Anne Thackeray Ritchie’s autograph album (1899) Eton College Library [MS 430/01/01/11]

During 1899, Annie asked her friends to sign this autograph album. The names include Rudyard Kipling, the prolific poet and novelist, and Herbert Spencer, the philosopher and biologist who coined the expression ‘survival of the fittest’.

Selection of books from Anne Thackeray Ritchie’s library, Eton College Library

William Makepeace Thackeray encouraged his daughter to read as widely as possible, in order to improve her own writings. Throughout her life Annie accumulated a diverse library, including volumes on natural history, Shakespeare, Dante, a classical dictionary, as well as contemporary writers such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë. These volumes are part of the collection in College Library.

Autograph letter from Fitzjames Stephen to Anne Thackeray (15 April 1865) Eton College Library [MS 430/01/01/09]

Annie faced comparisons not just to her father, but to the growing number of Victorian female writers. In this letter Fitzjames Stephen, younger brother of Annie’s future brother-in-law Leslie Stephen, offers constructive criticism of Anne Thackeray’s writings, and compares her work to that of George Eliot.

Autograph letter from Charles Collins (12 October 1871) Eton College Library [MS 430 01 01 02]

Charles Collins, the brother of the novelist William Wilkie Collins, gave Annie advice on publishing her works in America. Annie later dealt with American publishers herself, and her novels proved very popular in the country. Charles Collins later married Annie’s friend Kate Dickens, the daughter of the novelist Charles Dickens.

Autograph letter from James Froude, editor of the Fraser Magazine (24 February[?] 1867) Eton College Library [MS 430 01 01 04]

This letter like so many Annie received, compares her writing favourably to her father’s. Froude declares that he would be surprised if she didn’t carry on the fame of the Thackeray name.

Anne Thackeray, Old Kensington (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1873) Eton College Library [2 copies: Icc4.1.20 and private collection]

Anne Thackeray’s third and most ambitious novel was serialised from April 1872 and published in a single volume in 1873. It is also the novel where Annie drew most heavily on her own experiences, setting the work in Kensington and Paris where she grew up. It follows the fortunes of Dorothea Vanborough through her unhappy childhood to her eventual marriage.

One of the two copies shown here, from a private collection, was Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s copy with his inscription alluding to their shared initials.

Photograph of Leslie and Minnie Stephen (c.1860s) Eton College Library [MS 430/02/31]

When Annie went to live with Minnie and Leslie Stephen, it brought joy to each of their lives. Although Leslie Stephen did sometimes despair at his sister-in-law’s lack of financial awareness, he was very fond of Annie, later describing the years when they lived together as the happiest of his life.

Autograph letter from Leslie Stephen to Anne Thackeray (3 June 1874) Eton College Library [MS 430/01/04/02]

When Annie went to live with Minnie and Leslie Stephen, it brought joy to each of their lives. Although Leslie Stephen did sometimes despair at his sister-in-law’s lack of financial awareness, he was very fond of Annie, later describing the years when they lived together as the happiest of his life.

Anne Thackeray, Five Old Friends (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1875) Eton College Library [Icc4.1.37(01)] Anne Thackeray, Out of the World and other tales (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1876) Eton College Library [Icc4.1.36(01)]

These two volumes of short stories bring together various small pieces, often previously published elsewhere. They show not only the extent of Annie’s writings during her early writing career, but also the range of subject matter, which included fairy tales, social change, personal accounts and historical writing.

Detail from an autograph letter from Minnie Stephen to Anne Thackeray (1869) Eton College Library [MS 430/01/04/01]

Even when they were apart, the two sisters remained in constant contact, discussing all aspects of their lives, and offering each other advice. In this letter Minnie disapproves of Annie’s recent meeting with the novelist George Eliot, whose refusal to conceal her relationship with a married man breached Victorian social conventions, and advises her sister to stay away from her new acquaintance.

‘Honeymoon letters’ from Minnie Stephen to Anne Thackeray (1867) Eton College Library [MS 430 01/04/03]

These are just a few of the substantial series of letters Minnie wrote to Annie from her honeymoon—the first time in their lives the sisters had been apart for a prolonged period. Although not a published author like her sister, Minnie’s letters display her own sense of humour and shrewd character.

Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Chapters from Some Unwritten Memoirs (New York: Harper Brothers Publishers, 1895) Eton College Library [Id4.1.05]

Described by Annie as ‘chapters out of the past’, this collection of autobiographical essays offers her reflections on moments from her youth, illustrating the change in Annie’s writing activity towards the end of the 19th century. As her life and the world around her changed, she moved away from fiction into non-fiction.

Watercolour of Freshwater Bay, unknown artist (n.d.) Eton College Library [MS 430/02/41]

Alfred Tennyson and the Tennyson family had been early friends of William Makepeace Thackeray and the family continued to be close to Annie after her father’s death. Freshwater, the Tennyson family home on the Isle of Wight, became an important part of Annie’s life, and she regularly returned there on holiday before moving there towards the end of her life.

Watercolour sketch of Minnie Thackeray by Anne Thackeray (n.d.) Eton College Library [MS 430/01/05/01]

Like her father, Annie often drew portraits of family members and friends, including her beloved sister Minnie, in sketchbooks and letters.

Photograph of Lord Tennyson at Freshwater (c.1860s) (Reproduction) Eton College Library [MS 430/01/05/01]

Alfred Tennyson and the Tennyson family had been early friends of William Makepeace Thackeray and the family continued to be close to Annie after her father’s death. Freshwater, the Tennyson family home on the Isle of Wight, became an important part of Annie’s life, and she regularly returned there on holiday before moving there towards the end of her life.

Autograph leaf from the manuscript of Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1858-59) Eton College Library [MS 430A]

This is one of only 45 leaves known to have survived from Darwin’s original manuscript of his most important work, which established the concept of evolution; he seems to have placed little value on the manuscript, and the leaves that survive were mostly used by his children for drawing or given to friends. Annie knew Darwin and his family and treasured this leaf, possibility given to her by Darwin himself during a meeting in 1882.