Personal recollections, from early life to old age, of Mary Somerville.

8vo, pp. vi, 377, [1] blank; woodburytype frontispiece portrait; contemporary half calf over marbled boards, decorated spine gilt, with a black label lettered in gilt, marbled edges.

Perhaps one of the most distinguished English scientist's of her day, Mary Somerville was highly respected across Europe. In addition to her 'grasp of scientific truth in all branches of knowledge', she was a renowned educationalist and in her later years gave 'powerful but always temperate support to the cause of the education and emancipation of women. Hers was the first signature on John Stuart Mill's great petition to Parliament for women's suffrage, solicited by Mill himself' (DSB). One of her main strengths lay in her ability to comprehend and synthesize the work of her contemporaries and render it approachable for both the general reader and more advanced students. In the words of Sir David Brewster she was 'certainly the most extraordinary woman in Europe - a mathematician of the very first rank with all the gentleness of a woman'.

Martha Somerville (1815-1879), and her sister Mary, appear to have devoted most of their lives to supporting their mother. When their mother died Martha took this to a logical and much appreciated conclusion by drawing together personal journals and letters and having them published the year after her mother's death.