The Editor wishes to assemble, upon the high aesthetic ground...,
writers of different schools, -that the antagonistic views of
Philosophy, of Individual and of Social Culture... may be brought
together. -from "Prospectus" Intended as a periodical of the
Transcendentalist movement, Aesthetic Papers published just one issue,
in 1849, but what an issue it is. Featuring the first appearance in
print of Thoreau's dramatically influential essay "Civil Disobedience,"
it also offered a selection of essays, criticism, and poetry from
familiar names including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Parke Godwin, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, and J.J.G. Wilkinson. An important "lost" volume of the
vigorous intellectualism of the mid-19th century; this is a treasure for
today's readers. American activist ELIZABETH PALMER PEABODY (1804-1894)
was a tireless member of Massachusetts' Transcendentalist society, and
was a sister-in-law to both author Nathaniel Hawthorne and educational
reformer Horace Mann. Her battles encompassed the abolition of slavery,
the rights of Native Americans and women, and the improvement of
American education. As the founder of kindergarten in the United States
and perhaps the first female publisher in America, she exerted a
profound influence over the nation's public life and public
institutions.
