Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (thrale) (2nd Ed.) (2 Vols.): Edited with Notes and Introductory Account of Her Life and Writings

Hester Lynch Piozzi refused to be ordinary. In an age when women were expected to ornament parlors, she hosted the most brilliant literary salon in England, befriended Samuel Johnson, and after his death published the first biography of him, years before Boswell. This two-volume collection gathers her autobiography, letters, and literary remains, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who navigated Enlightenment society with wit, ambition, and occasional scandal. Her second marriage to an Italian musician cost her Johnson's friendship, yet she preserved his legacy through her diaries and published recollections. Hayward's biographical essay frames her as both visionary and controversial, a woman writer ahead of her time, alternately celebrated and dismissed by contemporaries. These pages reveal the price of intellectual ambition in a world that tolerated female brilliance only in moderation. For readers curious about the real women behind literary history, or anyone drawn to stories of reinvention and resilience, this collection offers something rare: a voice from the 18th century that still sounds modern.