Marie Clothilde Balfour

Marie Clothilde Balfour (20 October 1862 – September 1931) was a British writer, translator, and folklorist. She wrote three novels, stories, and plays; translated poetry and a French Revolution-era memoir; collected folk stories and songs; and edited two volumes of letters from her aunt.

This article is about the British folklorist and writer; for the British artist with a similar name, see Mary Balfour Herbert; for the Irish writer and playwright with a similar name, see Mary E. Balfour.
Marie Clothilde Balfour
Born20 October 1862
Edinburgh
DiedSeptember 1931
London
Occupation(s)Writer, folklorist
Parent
RelativesRobert Louis Stevenson (cousin); George William Balfour (uncle and father-in-law); Thomas Stevenson (uncle)

Early life and education

Balfour was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of James Balfour, a noted engineer, and Christina Simson Balfour (later Nicholson). Writer Robert Louis Stevenson was her first cousin. She spent her early years in New Zealand while he father was working there; when he died in 1869, she returned to Scotland with her mother.[1]

Publications

Balfour wrote three novels, translated a French Revolution-era memoir, and edited two volumes of letters from her aunt, Margaret Isabella Balfour Stevenson, sent during her travels with her son in Polynesia.[2][3] She also wrote plays and stories, and collected folklore. "From time to time doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of the tales that Marie Clothilde Balfour said she had collected," notes one scholar,[4] because the tales she published were especially strange, and she certainly added her own literary flourishes.[5][6][7]

  • "Legends of the Cars" (1891, a series of articles)[8][9][10]
  • White Sand (1896, novel)[11]
  • Maris Stella (1896, novel)[12]
  • "Sub Tegmine Fagi" (1897, short story)[13]
  • The Fall of the Sparrow (1897, novel)[14]
  • "Saint Joseph and Mary, from a French folk song" (1897, poem translated by Balfour)[15]
  • From Saranac to the Marquesas and beyond; being letters written by Mrs. M. I. Stevenson during 1887–88, to her sister, Jane Whyte Balfour (1903, edited by Balfour)[16]
  • Examples of printed folk-lore concerning Northumberland (1904, collected folksongs)[17]
  • Memoirs of Mlle des Écherolles, being sidelights on the Reign of Terror (1904, translated by Balfour)[18]
  • Mrs. M. I. Stevenson, Letters from Samoa, 1891–1895 (1906, edited by Balfour)[19]

Personal life

Balfour married her first cousin, physician James Craig Balfour; they had a daughter, Marie Margaret Melville Balfour, who also became a writer.[20] Balfour's husband died in 1907, and she died in London in 1931.[1]

References
  1. Bassett, Troy J. "Author: Marie Clothilde Balfour", At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837—1901, 15 December 2022.
  2. "Stevenson's Mother; Some of Her Letters Edited by Mary Clothilde Balfour". The New York Times. 16 January 1904. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  3. Graham, Lesley (2 January 2020). "From Scotland to Sāmoa: Margaret Isabella Balfour Stevenson in Polynesia". Studies in Travel Writing. 24 (1): 20–34. doi:10.1080/13645145.2020.1803598. ISSN 1364-5145. S2CID 225428257.
  4. Behrend, Michael. "Are the legends authentic?" Republications.
  5. Haase, Donald (30 December 2007). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales [3 Volumes]. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-313-04947-7.
  6. Roper, Jonathan (26 March 2019), Teverson, Andrew (ed.), ""No Fairy Tales of their Own?"", The Fairy Tale World (1 ed.), Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Series: The routledge worlds: Routledge, pp. 402–414, doi:10.4324/9781315108407-34, ISBN 978-1-315-10840-7, S2CID 186658601, retrieved 26 February 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. Duggan, Anne E.; Haase, Donald; Callow, Helen J. (12 February 2016). Folktales and Fairy Tales: Traditions and Texts from around the World, 2nd Edition [4 volumes]: Traditions and Texts from around the World. ABC-CLIO. p. 299. ISBN 978-1-61069-254-0.
  8. Balfour, M. C. (1 June 1891). "Legends of the Cars". Folklore. 2 (2): 145–170. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1891.9720054. ISSN 0015-587X.
  9. Balfour, M. C. (1 September 1891). "Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars.—Part II". Folklore. 2 (3): 257–283. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1891.9720066. ISSN 0015-587X.
  10. Balfour, M. C. (1 December 1891). "Legends of the Lincolnshire Cars.—Part III". Folklore. 2 (4): 401–418. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1891.9720076. ISSN 0015-587X.
  11. Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1896). White sand: The story of a dreamer and his dream. New York: The Merriam company.
  12. Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1896). Maris Stella. The keynotes series ;v. 27. Boston: Roberts Bros.; etc., etc.
  13. Balfour, Marie Clothilde. "Sub Tegmine Fagi" The Yellow Book 10 (July 1896): 199-213. via ProQuest
  14. Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1897). The fall of the sparrow. The Hudson library,no. 25. New York, London: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  15. "Balfour, Marie Clothilde". Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  16. Stevenson, Margaret Isabella (Balfour); Balfour, Jane Whyte; Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1903). From Saranac to the Marquesas and beyond. London: Methuen & co.
  17. Balfour, Marie Clothilde; Thomas, Northcote Whitridge (1904). Examples of printed folk-lore concerning Northumberland. Publications of the Folk-lore Society ;53. London: Nutt.
  18. DesÉcherolles, Alexandrine Etiennette Marie Charlotte; Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1904). Memoirs of Mlle. des Écherolles, being sidelights on the reign of terror. The crown library. London, New York: J. Lane.
  19. Stevenson, Margaret Isabella Balfour; Balfour, Jane Whyte; Balfour, Marie Clothilde (1906). Letters from Samoa, 1891–1895. London: Methuen.
  20. "Margaret Balfour". Mazed Tales. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  • "The Buried Moon", Tales of Britain and Ireland, a podcast episode in which one of Balfour's folklore-based stories is read and discussed by the host Graeme Cooke.
  • "The Buried Moon or the Big Plum Conspiracy" Hestia's Kitchen (28 September 2020), a blog post about Balfour's "The Buried Moon", with a recipe for plumbread
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