Celebration of 225 Years of Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda
March, 26th 2026 – Dublin
This year marks the 225th anniversary of Maria Edgeworth’s book ‘Belinda’. Published in 1801, it was her first romantic novel.
‘Belinda’ was controversial and modern for its time. It boldly is mentioning social taboos of the time, same sex relationships and interracial marriage. Doesn’t sound 18th Century – like?
The Celebration
The Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre decided to give the novel a ‘relaunch’, bringing it back to the forefront of people’s minds.
On 26th March at 12pm, we set up a press-launch in Dubray Books in Grafton Street. Matt Farrell, representing the Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre, gave an introductory speech.
This video is courtesy of Laura Fitzachery from @SeektheHistoric.
Followed by Councillor Danny Byrne, speaking on behalf of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, welcomed those attending the event and extended a particular greeting to Councillor Seamus Butler of Longford County Council and Senator Paraic Brady, who were present for the celebration.
Cllr Seamus Butler generously supported the new acquisition of a first edition of Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda. It was on display in Dubray on the day and forms now part of our permanent exhibition in the Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre.
At the end, dramatic readings from the novel were performed by amateur actors. Elizabeth Fitzsimons served as narrator, Dr Melissa Shiels performed the role of Lady Delacour, Sadhbh O’Reilly portrayed Belinda, and Setanta Flood appeared as the charismatic Clarence Hervey.
Regency Promenade
At 1 pm we went out into the street. Grafton Street, as usually, was very busy. The members and friends of the Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre dressed in Regency attire to make a wider audience aware of the celebrations. We promenaded to St Stephen’s Green to take a few nice pictures, meeting many curious people along the way.
Lecture about Belinda
The celebrations concluded later in the afternoon at the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute, where Professor Jim Chandler of the University of Chicago delivered a public lecture to a large audience. His talk explored themes of character and literary innovation in Edgeworth’s Belinda, highlighting the enduring importance of the novel more than two centuries after its publication.
A huge thank you to everyone involved. We had a great day and received fantastic attention. Hopefully we tempted some passers-by to look up the name Maria Edgeworth and perhaps read one of her novels. It certainly won’t be our last visit to Dublin!
