Letters on Education.
Bath: Printed by R. Cruttwell, 1801. First edition.(A second edition was published in the same year.). Darkening to top edge. Quite clean overall despite some light occasional foxing and some toning toning. A very good, attractive, and wide copy of this important book by pioneer of educational theory in Britain. Contemporary tree calf. Gilt spine with dark blue morocco spine label. Blue speckled edges. Octavo. viii, 413 pp. Item #17234
The present work details the theories of Elizabeth Hamilton (1758 – 1808) on the roles of gender, scholarship, religion, and parenting in British education, and the influence of proper education on societal development. She also writes on education, religion, and culture in areas she considered to be “savage,” i.e., South Asia and parts of Africa. Hamilton’s observations of India are based on her own travels there.
Hamilton is best known for her works on education such as Letters on the Elementary Principles of Education. She was “one of the earliest British pioneers of the theories of Pestalozzi” (Steward & McCann, p. 14) and was much admired by Maria Edgeworth. She also wrote social criticism, somewhat in the style of Goldsmith’s Citizen of the World, and books on Scottish manners and customs, which earned the praise of Sir Walter Scott. Hamilton’s three-volume Life of Agrippina has been called “an important attempt to deal seriously with the life of an admirable Roman woman,” (Blain, Clements and Grundy, Feminist Companion to Literature in English).
Price: $375.00