The collected letters of Harriet Martineau

Abstract

Volume 1 This volume comprises letters from Martineau's early years through to the mid-1830s, including family letters and publishing correspondence relating to the Illustrations of Political Economy. The early correspondence reveals her coming-of-age as an intellectual young woman and self-supporting writer. Volume 2 This volume takes Martineau's story forward through the 1830s and 40s. It includes correspondence from her American journeys, her years of invalidism in Tynemouth and her letters on mesmerism. It closes in the 1840s with her move to Ambleside. Volumes 3 and 4 These volumes cover the 1850s and early 1860s. Despite her severe invalidism, this was Martineau's most prolific period, both as a writer and correspondent. Her journalistic output increased and her attention turned to current national and international affairs. Central themes of this volume are American abolitionism, Ireland, India, British imperial politics and sanitary reform in the British military. Also included are her philosophical Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development. Correspondents include the editors of the Daily News (for whom she wrote 1852-66), Henry Reeve of the Edinburgh Review and Florence Nightingale. The Martineau letters to Nightingale included here have never before been published. Volume 5 This volume covers the late 1860s and 70s, when illness and age increasingly limited Martineau's productivity. Three appendices contain correspondence written by Maria and Jane Martineau at Harriet's dictation shorthand transcriptions by James Martineau, when Harriet requested the destruction of her correspondence, and transcriptions made by James of the lost originals. Extant material relating to correspondence between Martineau and Elizabeth J Reid is also included.

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