The Family Nurse

Boston: Charles J. Hendee, 1837. First edition.

1837 SCARCE FIRST EDITION OF "COMPANION TO THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE"

7 1/2 inches tall hardcover, brown cloth binding with blindstamped decorative rulings to cover, gilt title to cover, 156 pp, wear to tips of corners and spine ends with a 1" abrasion to bottom spine, mild foxing, embossed seal to title page. A very good minus copy of this scarce first edition.

LYDIA MARIA CHILD (1802-1880) was an American abolitionist, feminist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. She may be most remembered for her poem "Over the River and Through the Wood". Child wrote several novels, poetry, and an instruction manual for mothers, The Mothers Book; but her most successful work was The Frugal Housewife, Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of Economy. First published in 1829, the book was expanded and went through 33 printings in 25 years. Child changed the title to The American Frugal Housewife in 1832 to end the confusion with the British author Susannah Carter's The Frugal Housewife first published in 1765 and then printed in America from 1772. Child wrote that Carter's book was not suited "to the wants of this country". The PREFACE to The Family Nurse begins, "This book merely contains the elements of nursing, and is by no means intended to supersede the advice of a physician. It is simply a household friend, which the inexperienced may consult on comm occasions, or sudden emergencies, when medical advice is either unnecessary, or cannot be obtained."