Known as the "Saxon Nymph"

The reason I went to grad school for medieval English literature, lo these many years ago, was because of my adulation of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was a philologist, and knew Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) as well as dozens of other languages. You can imagine my delight, then, when I came across this first edition of the first English grammar of Old English.
Elizabeth Elstob (1683-1756) was a rare case--a female scholar, allowed to be so by her brother, who died the year this book was published, which was a tragedy to her career. Proficient in eight languages, and one of England's first professional female scholars, she persevered and eventually enjoyed the support and fellowship of her colleagues.