Description:

Martineau Harriet

3pp ALS, comprised of 2pp ALS signed by British writer Harriet Martineau as "Harriet Martineau", and a 1pp ALS signed by British educator Thomas Arnold as "T. Arnold". Bifold pages written in two different hands (Martineau's and Arnold's) on blank cream stationery. Also containing an integral address leaf with handwritten and stamped philatelic markings including "Boston, Mass. SHIP APR 27" and bearing remnants of a partial black wax seal and two dockets. Very good to near fine condition, with expected paper folds. Isolated loss to address leaf corresponding to adhered seal. Two tape hinges at gutter. Minor isolated toning and/or stamp impressions. Each page measures 7.25" x 9.25".

 

On February 23, 1838 from a Westminster address, British intellectual Harriet Martineau penned this 2pp letter introducing her friend Thomas Arnold to her American acquaintance, John McVickar. Martineau asked McVickar to spearhead negotiations for publishing Arnold's forthcoming History of Rome in the United States. "I hope my application will not cause you too much trouble, but I know you will not grudge a little exertion in a cause which we English writers owe you much already", Martineau wrote winningly.

 

After asking her favor, Martineau then weighed in on an issue currently being debated in the U.S. Congress: "I have not surrendered the hope that Congress may give us the protection of American law before the session closes. Our parliament is going to pass a Bill containing a clause expressly protective of foreign copyright. We shall have the satisfaction of having done our duty by foreign authors; & I doubt not your honest & friendly exertions will soon obtain justice for us".

 

Harriet Martineau (1802-1867) had many such opinions. Martineau's astute commentary on Victorian society, politics, economy, religion, gender, and race relations prompted many to call her the first female sociologist. This published author of non-fiction and fiction visited the United States in 1834, during which time she probably met her correspondent, John McVickar. A dedicated abolitionist, Martineau wrote about the antebellum United States in Society in America, published just one year before sending this letter. At this time also she was very involved with Charles Darwin

 

John McVickar (1787-1868), Martineau's American correspondent, was a professor of Political Economy, Moral Philosophy, and Rhetoric at "Columbia College", where he had taught since 1817. (Indeed, McVickar would teach here until 1857.)

 

Thomas Arnold (1795-1842), Martineau's protégé, wrote McVickar from Rugby in central England on March 5, 1838. Arnold was an aspiring Classicist on the verge of publishing an exhaustive 350-year history of Rome, which Martineau called a "work of great importance". Arnold's day job was as Headmaster of Rugby School, where he implemented a number of highly successful internal reforms that would serve as a template for other Victorian public schools. It is Arnold's contributions as an educator, and not as a historian of ancient Rome, that are most remembered today.

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