BERTHA AND LILY;; or, The Parsonage of Beech Glen, A Romance
first edition
1854 · NY, Boston, Cinn
by SMITH, [Mrs.] Elizabeth Oakes
NY, Boston, Cinn: Derby, 1854. First Edition. 8vo, pp. 336. Illustrated frontispiece. Bound in little worn brown cloth, stamped in blind and gilt, some staining to the pastedowns, a very good copy. Wright II, 2256. (Of social reforms and woman's rights) Scarce. Smith (1806-1893) was born in Maine and is remembered as a novelist, lyceum lecturer, woman's right's reformer and contributor to popular periodicals of her day. She was married to newspaper editor Seba Smith and began to write following the reversal of his financial affairs. A minor fixture in the New York literary scene, she became friendly with Poe, Bryant, Margaret Fuller and others. After hearing Frances Wright lecture, she became active in the woman's rights movement, wrote for Horace Greely and published her "Woman and Her Needs" in 1851. She was one of the earliest women to join the lyceum circuit and made annual speaking tours. She contributed to Paulina Wright Davis' "Una" and wrote pamphlets in dress reform and marriage. This is a novel. (Inventory #: 43115)