Maria Weston Chapman

"Harriet Martineau lived an extraordinary literary life. She became a reviewer and journalist in the 1820s when her family's fortune collapsed; published a best-selling series, Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-34), that made her fame and fortune by the age of thirty; overcame a hearing disability to become a "literary lion" in London society; toured the United States and wrote two founding texts of sociology based on her experiences; explored north Africa and the Middle East to observe non-European societies; wrote "leaders" (editorials) on slavery for the London Daily News during the American Civil War; and commented publicly on matters of politics, history, and religion in an era when women supposedly maintained their place in the sphere of domesticity." "This edition of her Autobiography reproduces the original 1877 text, which Martineau composed in 1855 and had printed in anticipation of her death. It includes illustrations of the author and her homes; excerpts from the "Memorials," added by her editor Maria Chapman; and reviews that praise and critique Martineau's method as an autobiographer and achievement as a Victorian woman of letters."--Jacket.

"1 woodcut from a daguerreotype of Walker's hand inset into title page. 1 steel engraving of Walker, by J. Andrews, both [produced] by Southworth and Hawes Studio, Boston. ... early example of a daguerreotype used to comment journalistically and now seen as graphically striking as well. Southworth and Hawes were later to work enthusiastically with engravers and created a special lens for such work."--Hanson Collection catalog, p. 10