Mary Mitchell (c1716-c1762) was the daughter of Robert Mitchell, a skinner, in London. In 1738 she married Joseph Collyer, a stationer, from Nottingham. They had eight children, and were in constant financial difficulty; both husband and wife turned to writing in order to earn money for their family. They were both Dissenters and were well-educated; Mary was familiar with contemporary European literature, and could translate from French and German. One of her works was the translation of Salomon Gessner’s Der Tod Abels as The Death of Abel (1761). She also wrote Letters from Felicia to Charlotte (1750).