Author Bibliography (in progress)
Child, Lydia Maria (1802-1880)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Lydia Maria Francis was born in Medford, Massachusetts, on 11 February 1802. She was known for her activism in support of the rights of women, Indigenous people, and the enslaved, and against gender, racial, and species supremacy. In her advice manuals she advises against the consumption of meat and animal products, but her sympathy for ethical veg*nism is essentially welfarist. She thematizes and advocates for the humane treatment of other-than-human animals. While, at times, she employs textual features that testify to an interest in other-than-human animal sentience, such as direct speech and narrative point of view, she does not question the legitimacy of humans’ use of other animals for their own purposes. Thus, she uses animal tropes like “cattle” and “wild animal” as similes to describe the experience of enslaved people. Child does not seem to advocate for veg*nism directly in her own voice, but she is interested in the practice of the "Pythagorean" diet or veganism both in her context and in other cultures and times, often in relation to (religious) ethics. She also promotes Temperance and frugality. Lydia Maria Child died in Wayland, Massachusetts, on 20 October 1880.
IMAGE: Lydia Maria Child, reading a book. c. 1865. Public Domain.
PUBLICATIONS
Autumnal Leaves: Tales and Sketches in Prose and Rhyme. New York, Boston: C.S. Francis & Co. 1857.
Aspirations of the World. A Chain of Opals. Boston: Roberts Bros., 1881.
The Biographies of Madame de Stael, and Madame Roland. Boston: Carter and Hendee, 1832.
“Extract from Mrs. Child’s Appeal.” The Liberator Vol. 3, no. 37 (14 Sep. 1833): 146.
The Family Nurse; or, Companion of the Frugal Housewife. Boston: Charles J. Hendee, London: Richard Bentley, 1837.
Flowers for Children. Ed. L. Maria Child. New York: C. S. Francis & Co., 1844–1847. 3 vols.
The Freedmen’s Book. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865.
The History of the Condition of Women, In Various Ages and Nations. Boston: Otis, Broaders, 1838. 2 vols.
Hobomok, A Tale of Early Times. Boston: Cummings, Hilliard & Co., 1824.
Isaac T. Hopper: A True Life. Boston; Cleveland, OH: J. P. Jewett & Co., 1853.
Letters from New York. Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1841-43.
Letters from New-York. Second Series. New York: C. S. Francis & Co., 1847.
Letters of Lydia Maria Child. Ed. Whittier, John Greenleaf, Wendell Phillips & Harriet Winslow Sewall. Boston: Hougton Mifflin, 1884.
Lydia Maria Child, Selected Letters, 1817-1880. Ed. Meltzer et al. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982.
“Loo Loo. A Few Scenes from a True History. [Scenes I-III].” The Atlantic Monthly. Vol. I no. 1 (November 1857): 801-812.
Memoir of Benjamin Lay: Compiled from Various Sources. Philadelphia: American A.S. Society, 1842.
The Mother's Book. Boston: Carter, Hendee and Babcock, 1831.
The Oasis. Boston: Allen and Ticknor, 1834.
Philothea: A Grecian Romance. 1836.
The Progress of Religious Ideas through Successive Ages. New York, C. S. Francis & co., 1855.
Rainbows for Children. With Twenty-eight Illustrations. Ed. Lydia Maria Child. New York: C. S. Francis & Co., 1848.
Last updated on May 31st, 2024
SNSF project 100015_204481
@VLS@veganism.social | VeganLiteraryStudies | @veganliterarystudies |