Letters of Life w Signed HANDWRITTEN LETTER by L. H. Sigourney (1867) Cloth Good

D. Appleton and Company, 1867. Association copy antiquarian cloth bound hardcover with a handwritten, signed letter by the author pasted in of Letters of Life by L. H. Sigourney.

Association copy that includes a handwritten letter by Mrs. Sigourney pasted in behind the front fly leaf written to William Buell Sprague, a prominent American Presbyterian clergyman and biographer of the 19th century, best known for his long pastorate at the Second Presbyterian Church in Albany, New York. His magnum opus is the nine-volume work, Annals of the American Pulpit (1857–1869), which is a monumental collection of biographies and correspondence concerning hundreds of deceased American Protestant ministers.

Lydia Huntley Sigourney's final work, Letters of Life, published posthumously, is a collection of moral essays and reflections addressed in an epistolary style. Often called the "Sweet Singer of Hartford," Sigourney provides sentimental advice on domestic duties, social etiquette, education, and piety, reflecting the prevailing Victorian values and the constrained but influential role of women in 19th-century American life. Sigourney (1791–1865) was one of the first American women to achieve a lucrative literary career, making her work a cornerstone of sentimental literature.

Good condition. Inner front cover hinge worn and slightly stretched, but intact. Pencil markings inside the front cover. Author's full name written in pencil underneath her initials of the pasted in letter. Wear to the front cover hinge and to the spine foot. Small liquid stain to the left edge of the page block, presenting to approximately 100 pages. Binding solid. Interior pages clean and crisp. Solid book with shelf wear.