Aphra Behn

Little is known about the early life of the remarkable Restoration author and professional spy Aphra Behn (1640?-1689) who was, by the late 1650s, already a skilled Royalist agent and courier (code-name "Astraea"). She continued her intelligence-gathering activities when she sailed with her mother and siblings to the new colony of Surinam. Back in London, she married the German merchant Johann Behn, who appears to have died instantly. In about 1670, when she was working under cover in Antwerp, money troubles prompted "Widow Behn" to take up writing for the theater. At least nineteen plays, possibly many more, as well as novels, poetry, panegyrics, and translations followed. She may be regarded as the first professional woman writer in English. Old loyalties led her to become a powerful tool of propaganda for Charles II during the so-called Exclusion Crisis of the early 1680s. Aphra Behn died five days after the coronation of William and Mary.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005