WOLLSTONECRAFT (Mary). Letters written during a short reside - Lot 137

Lot 137
Go to lot
Estimation :
400 - 500 EUR
WOLLSTONECRAFT (Mary). Letters written during a short reside - Lot 137
WOLLSTONECRAFT (Mary). Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. London, Johnson, 1796. In-8 de [4], 262, [4], [2] pp. Calf, smooth threaded spine (contemporary binding). Very complete of the last sheet of the list of published titles, which is often missing. Original edition. The English writer, philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) is known for her eclectic work (novels, treatises, this travel story, a history of the French Revolution, a children's book or her now famous pamphlet Defending Women's Rights) but also for her love affairs far removed from the conventions of the time. Following two unfortunate adventures, one with the painter Henry Fuseli (or Füssli) and the other with the officer and businessman Gilbert Imlay (of whom she had a daughter, Fanny Imlay), she ended up marrying the philosopher William Godwin, one of the fathers of the anarchist movement. From this union will be born the no less famous Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, future Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Mary Wollstonecraft will die at the age of 38, only ten days after Mary's birth, leaving several unfinished manuscripts. Written and sent to the attention of Gilbert Imlay, who agreed, at the request of the letter writer, to return them to him for publication, these twenty-five very eclectic letters deliver sociological reflections on Scandinavia and its peoples, philosophical questions on identity, or daydreams about his relationship with Gilbert Imlay (who is not named in the text) and are not unlike Rousseau's Rêveries du promeneur solitaire in its emphasis on subjective and sensitive experience, particularly in relation to nature, and the grandiose landscapes of Scandinavia. The book was a great success in the 1790s and influenced romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His last love (and father of Mary Shelley) William Godwin said of it: "If ever there was a book calculated t
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue