Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was born in Manchester, England, emigrated to Tennessee at sixteen, and became one of the most popular and financially successful writers of the late nineteenth century. She is remembered today for three children’s classics — Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911) — that have never been out of print, but in her lifetime she was equally known as a prolific novelist, playwright, and one of the first women to earn a fortune by writing.

Life and Career

Burnett grew up in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, in a family that fell from comfort to poverty after her father’s death. The family emigrated to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1865, where the teenage Frances began writing stories for magazines to support them. She published her first story at seventeen and never stopped.

Her adult novel That Lass o’ Lowrie’s (1877) established her reputation. Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) made her famous and rich: the story of an American boy who inherits an English earldom was a transatlantic sensation. The Fauntleroy velvet suit and lace collar became a fashion craze, inflicted on a generation of reluctant boys. The novel’s success also produced one of the first major copyright disputes in American publishing — an unauthorized stage adaptation forced Burnett to fight for dramatists’ rights.

She married Swan Burnett in 1873 and divorced him in 1898; married Stephen Townesend in 1900 and divorced him in 1902. Her personal life was marked by the death of her elder son Lionel from tuberculosis in 1890 — a devastating loss that pervades her later work.

The Secret Garden (1911) is her masterpiece: the story of Mary Lennox, a spoiled, sickly girl sent to live on the Yorkshire moors, who discovers a locked garden and, in restoring it, restores herself and the damaged household. The novel was not a particular success on publication — it was overshadowed by her earlier work — but grew steadily in reputation and is now considered one of the greatest children’s novels in English.

Major Works and Themes

Burnett’s children’s books share a common theme: the transformative power of imagination, nature, and love on damaged or neglected children. A Little Princess (1905) transforms a rich girl into a servant and back again through the power of her inner world. The Secret Garden uses the garden itself as a metaphor for psychological healing.

Her work is more complex than its reputation suggests. The Secret Garden deals frankly with grief, neglect, and the consequences of colonial life in India. Mary Lennox is not initially sympathetic — she is a “disagreeable” child — and her transformation is earned rather than magical.

Critical Reception and Legacy

Burnett was enormously popular in her lifetime but critically dismissed for much of the twentieth century. The feminist and children’s literature scholarship of the 1980s and 1990s restored her reputation, particularly for The Secret Garden, which is now studied in universities alongside the works of her more “literary” contemporaries. Her influence on children’s literature — the orphan protagonist, the healing garden, the transformative friendship — is pervasive.

Key Works

• Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886)
• A Little Princess (1905)
• The Secret Garden (1911)

Collecting Burnett

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886, Scribner’s, New York) is the first edition and most collected title. Illustrated by Reginald Birch, first editions in good condition bring $300–$1,000. The book was a massive bestseller, so copies are not rare, but fine condition is.

The Secret Garden (1911, Frederick A. Stokes, New York) is the most desirable Burnett title. First editions with the four color plates are sought after: $1,000–$5,000 in fine condition with minimal foxing.

A Little Princess (1905, Scribner’s) first edition: $200–$800.

Burnett’s adult novels — That Lass o’ Lowrie’s, Through One Administration — are seldom collected. The children’s titles dominate the market entirely.