Editing Eleanor Alice Burford (section)

===Pseudonyms===
[[File:Plaidy Beach, Looe - geograph.org.uk - 208195.jpg|thumb|left|Plaidy Beach near [[Looe]], [[Cornwall]]]]
In 1945, she chose the pseudonym ''Jean Plaidy'' for her new novel ''Together They Ride'' at the request of her agent.<ref name="DID"/> The name was inspired by [[Plaidy, Cornwall|Plaidy Beach]] near the Hibberts' home in [[Looe]], [[Cornwall]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="hibbert_baltimore"/> Her agent suggested the first name, saying "''Jean'' doesn't take much room at the back of the book".<ref name="DID"/> The book was published by Gerald G. Swan, a London publisher.<ref name="hibbert_dalby"/> The next book written under the ''Jean Plaidy'' pseudonym was ''Beyond the Blue Mountains'' in 1948. The publisher [[Robert Hale (publishers)|Robert Hale]] accepted the 500-page manuscript after it had been rejected by several others. The firm wrote to Hibbert's literary agency, [[List of UK literary agencies|A.M. Heath]], "Will you tell this author that there are glittering prizes ahead for those who can write as she does?".<ref name="hibbert_ind"/> In 1949, Hibbert hit her stride with the first ''Jean Plaidy'' novel that fictionalized stories of royalty: ''The King's Pleasure'', featuring [[Henry VIII]] and [[Anne Boleyn]].<ref name="hibbert_sh_2007-11">{{cite web | title= The Queen of Historical Fiction | url= http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/subpages/plaidy.html | first= Susan |last=Higginbotham | publisher= Solander, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society | date= November 2007 | access-date= 28 August 2014 | archive-date= 25 April 2017 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170425150744/http://susanhigginbotham.com/subpages/plaidy.html | url-status= dead }}</ref> A total of 91 ''Jean Plaidy'' novels were published. Hibbert's last ''Jean Plaidy'' book, ''The Rose Without a Thorn'', was published posthumously.<ref name="hibbert_dalby"/>

Hibbert also wrote four non-fiction books under the pseudonym ''Jean Plaidy''. The first, ''A Triptych of Poisoners'' (1958), was a collection of short biographies of poisoners: [[Cesare Borgia]], [[Madame de Brinvilliers|Marie d'Aubray]] and [[Edward William Pritchard]]. The other three were a trilogy on the [[Spanish Inquisition]]: ''The Rise'' (1959), ''The Growth'' (1960) and ''The End'' (1961).

From 1950 to 1953, Hibbert wrote four novels as ''Elbur Ford'', a pen name derived from her maiden name, Eleanor Burford. These novels were based on real-life murderers of the nineteenth century:  [[Edward William Pritchard]] (''Flesh and the Devil'', 1950); [[Pimlico Mystery|Adelaide Bartlett]] (''Poison in Pimlico'', 1950); [[Euphrasie Mercier]]<ref name="hibbert_nyt_1886-04-25">{{cite news | title= The story of Euphrasie Mercier's career: Murdering her mistress, assuming her character, and concealing the crime for nearly four years. | url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/04/25/103104308.pdf | newspaper =The New York Times | date= 11 April 1886 | access-date= 26 August 2014 }}</ref> (''The Bed Disturbed'', 1952) and [[Constance Kent]] (''Such Bitter Business'', 1953 – published in the U.S. in 1954 under the title ''Evil in the House'').

Between 1952 and 1960, Hibbert used the [[pseudonym]] ''Kathleen Kellow'' to write eight novels that were mostly crime and mystery fiction. From 1956 to 1961, she wrote five novels as ''Ellalice Tate'', a pseudonym inspired by her mother's name, Alice Tate.<ref name="hibbert_ap">{{cite news | title= Eleanor Hibbert; Wrote As Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy | url= https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930121/1681063/eleanor-hibbert-wrote-as-victoria-holt-jean-plaidy|work= The Seattle Times|date= 21 January 1993|access-date=18 April 2014 }}</ref>

{{Quote box|width=17.5em|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=left|quote="I've always wanted to write a best-seller. Every writer does. It's really a matter of finding out what the public wants.<br/> —Eleanor Hibbert<ref name="hibbert_smh_1974-02-24"/>}}

In 1960, at the suggestion of her agent, [[Patricia Schartle Myrer]], she wrote her first Gothic romance, ''[[Mistress of Mellyn]]'', under the name ''Victoria Holt''. The pseudonym was created by choosing the name ''Victoria'' for its regal, romantic ring while the name ''Holt'' was taken from the military bank of [[Drummonds Bank|Holt & Company]] where Hibbert had an account.<ref name="hibbert_smh_1974-02-24"/><ref name="hibbert_dpseudo">{{cite book | title= Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eSIhzKnNUf4C&q=victoria+holt&pg=PA383 |first= Adrian |last=Room |publisher= McFarland | date= 1 July 2010 |access-date= 26 August 2014|isbn = 9780786457632}}</ref> Published by [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] in the United States and [[William Collins, Sons|Collins]] in the United Kingdom, ''[[Mistress of Mellyn]]'' became an instant international bestseller and revived the [[Gothic fiction#The Romantics|Gothic romantic suspense]] genre.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="hibbert_ind"/><ref name="hibbert_fawnsw">{{cite news | title= Eleanor Hibbert 1906–1993 | url= https://suite.io/carolyn-m-cash/2zrs26e | first= Carolyn |last=Cash | publisher= Writers Voice June–July 2007 [Official Bulletin of the Fellowship of Australian Writers NSW Inc] | year= 2007 | access-date= 18 April 2014 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140419015539/https://suite.io/carolyn-m-cash/2zrs26e | archive-date= 19 April 2014 | df= dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="hibbert_nyt_1990-06-05">{{cite news | title= Booksellers Mixed on Fall Outlook | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/05/business/the-media-business-booksellers-mixed-on-fall-outlook.html | first= Edwin |last=McDowell |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 5 June 1990 |access-date=18 April 2014 }}</ref>

{{Quote box|width=17.5em|bgcolor=#FFFDBF|quote="I have heard her name mentioned in connection with mine and I think it is because we both lived in Cornwall and have written about this place. ''[[Rebecca (novel)|Rebecca]]'' is the atmospheric suspense type of book mine are. But I don’t think there is much similarity between her others and mine."<br/> — Victoria Holt commenting on the similarity between Daphne du Maurier’s novels and her own.<ref name="hibbert_rt_1981"/>}}

''[[Mistress of Mellyn]]'' was a clever weaving of elements from earlier Gothic novels such as ''[[Jane Eyre|Jane Eyre (1847)]]'', ''[[The Woman in White (novel)|The Woman in White (1859)]]'', and ''[[Rebecca (novel)|Rebecca (1938)]]''. Its setting in [[Cornwall]] made the resemblance to ''[[Rebecca (novel)|Rebecca (1938)]]'' so remarkable that it was speculated that ''Victoria Holt'' was a pseudonym for [[Daphne du Maurier]].<ref name="hibbert_nyt_1977-08-14"/><ref name="hibbert_gr_mellyn">{{cite web | title= Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists | url= https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211953.Mistress_of_Mellyn |publisher= GoodReads.com | access-date= 26 August 2014}}</ref> After six Victoria Holt novels were published over eight years, it was revealed that Hibbert was the author.<ref name="hibbert_rt_1981"/> Hibbert wrote a further 31 novels as Victoria Holt, primarily portraying fictitious characters set against an authentic period background, usually of the late 19th century. The last Victoria Holt novel, ''The Black Opal'', was published after her death.<ref name="hibbert_ind"/>

In 1960, Hibbert wrote a novel under the name ''Anna Percival'', a pseudonym inspired by her husband's middle name, Percival. Hibbert never used that pen name again.

She created her last pseudonym, Philippa Carr, in 1972 at the suggestion of her publisher, [[William Collins, Sons|Collins]], to create a new series showing successive generations of English gentlewomen involved in important historical events starting with the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] and ending with [[World War II]].<ref name="hibbert_ind"/>

Hibbert continued to use the pseudonym ''Jean Plaidy'' for her historical novels about the crowned heads of Europe. Her books written under this pseudonym were popular with the general public and were also hailed by critics and historians for their historical accuracy, quality of writing, and attention to detail.<ref name="hibbert_eb">{{cite encyclopedia | title= Eleanor Alice Hibbert | url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/264785/Eleanor-Alice-Hibbert |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=18 April 2014 }}</ref>

{{thumb| align=center | style="text-align: center;"|content=
'''Number of books written per decade under different pseudonyms'''<br>
{{Graph:Chart
| type = rect
| width = 500
| height = 350
| xAxisTitle = Decade
| x = 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s 
| yAxisTitle = Books
| yGrid= 
| colors = red, green, blue, orange
| y1 = 9, 19, 3, 0, 0, 0 
| y2 = 4, 19 , 26, 22, 16, 4
| y3 = 0, 0, 8, 10, 10, 4
| y4 = 0, 0, 0, 5, 9, 5
}}
|caption=
{{legend-inline | red | Eleanor Burford | outline=none }}&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;{{legend-inline | green | Jean Plaidy | outline=none }}&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;{{legend-inline | blue | Victoria Holt | outline=none }}&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;{{legend-inline | orange | Philippa Carr | outline=none }}
}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! Decade || Eleanor Burford || Jean Plaidy || Elbur Ford || Kathleen Kellow || Ellalice Tate || Anna Percival || Victoria Holt || Philippa Carr || Total
|-
| 1940s || 9 || 4 ||  ||  ||  || || || || 13
|-
| 1950s || 19 || 19 || 4 || 7 || 4 || || || || 53
|-
| 1960s || 3 || 26 || || 1 || 1 || 1 || 8 || || 40
|-
| 1970s ||  || 22 || || || || || 10 || 5 || 37
|-
| 1980s ||  || 16 || || || || || 10 || 9 || 35
|-
| 1990s ||  || 4 ||  || || || || 4 || 5 || 13
|-
| Total || 31 || 91 || 4 || 8 || 5 || 1 || 32 || 19 || 191
|-
| COLSPAN=10 |{{note label|pseud_table|Note|Note}}The numbers here reflect single novels originally published under the pseudonym. Later reprints under a different title and/or pseudonym are not included. Omnibus editions and anthologies are also not included.
|}