LETTER: Autograph letter signed, "Mary L. Booth," to "My dear Mrs. Elderkin," 101 East 59th St., New York, October 21, 1878.
ALS, "Mary L. Booth," to "My dear Mrs. Elderkin," 101 East 59th St., New York, October 21, 1878.
8vo.; one leaf, two pages.
Booth writes to reschedule a trip with Mrs. Elderkin due to the plans of Mrs. Wright.
Writer, translator, and the first editor of Harper's Bazaar, Mary Louise Booth (1831-1899) was the daughter of the village miller and school teacher. She began to translate French works at a young age and completed about forty works, including books sympathetic to the Union cause, eliciting praise from Abraham Lincoln.
At the same time, Booth composed her own History of the City of New York (1859), which gained for her critical praise and commercial success. An active abolitionist and feminist, she served as secretary at the woman's rights conventions in Saratoga (1855) and New York City (1860). Named editor of the Harper Brothers' new magazine, Harper's Bazaar, a family and fashion magazine, in 1867, Booth combined the skills of a shrewd businesswoman, intuitive knowledge of the tastes of conventional Victorian ladies, and the literary judgment of a writer, to make the it a great financial success. Booth built a magazine that continued more than a century after her death its name was changed to Bazaar in 1929).
Print Inquire