Eastern Life, Present and Past.

MARTINEAU, Harriet.

$600.00

Item Number: 146067

London: Edward Moxon, 1848.

First English edition of this sociological travelogue. Octavo, three volumes, original publisher’s cloth with gilt titles to the spine, blindstamping to the front panel. In good condition with rubbing and toning to the spine of each volume, splitting to the hinges of each volume, ownership signature to the half title page of Vol. I and III.

Harriet Martineau was an English social theorist and Whig writer, often cited as the first female sociologist. Martineau wrote many books and essays from a sociological, holistic, religious, domestic, and perhaps most controversially, feminine lens and said of her own approach to writing: "when one studies a society, one must focus on all its aspects, including key political, religious, and social institutions." Martineau wrote 'Eastern Life, Past and Present' after a tour of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria with some friends, examining the concept of the deity and divine government and how it has abstracted across religions throughout history.