Maria Callcott – författare

The daughter of a naval officer, throughout her life Maria Graham (later Callcott) combined her passion for adventure with a diligent attention to scholarship and self-improvement. A talented linguist, children's author, travel writer and self-confessed 'tomboy', by the time Journal of a Voyage to Brazil was published in 1824 she had already penned successful travel diaries for both India and Italy. A perceptive observer, her accessible style made her popular with readers in Britain. Here, Graham combines a history of Brazil with her personal impressions of the politics and people of Madeira, Tenerife, and South America. A friend of Turner and Eastlake, her own artistic talents are evident in the numerous plates that punctuate her vivid account. From slave markets to dragon trees and graveyards, every significant aspect of her personal experiences and observations is relayed to the reader in an absorbing succession of words and images.

Published in 1824, the journal of Maria Graham (1785-1842) depicts one woman's immersion in the culture and society of post-independence Chile. Graham, known later as Lady Callcott, travelled through India and Europe as well as South America, and her writings and reflections on these regions and their cultures, as well as other historical works, established her reputation both as a writer and later as an art historian. Graham outlines the parameters of her work in her preface and her historical Introduction: she is interested not only in what has happened to the Chileans, but in what the future holds for them and their new nation. Graham's writing reveals sensitivity to the sentimental, romantic, and gothic trends among her contemporaries, and her Journal benefits from her literary awareness.

The daughter of a naval officer, Maria Graham (1785-1842), later Lady Callcott, combined her passion for travel with a diligent attention to scholarship and self-improvement. In 1808, the talented linguist and artist sailed for India with her family. She travelled widely in south and east India and Ceylon, and became fascinated by the culture, religion and antiquities of the sub-continent. This, the first of her celebrated travel journals, was published on her return to England in 1812. She regarded it as a supplement to scholarly works of history or economics, aiming to give a real, and unusually open-minded, impression of the country. Covering flora and fauna, social life, and tourist attractions, and written in a vivid style with her own illustrations, the book was an immediate success, the second edition (reissued here) appearing in 1813. It was followed by volumes on Brazil and Chile, also available in this series.

This children's history of England by Maria Callcott (1785-1842) was written as though she were telling a series of stories to a young boy known as 'Little Arthur'. Having travelled widely during her first marriage, publishing accounts under the name Maria Graham, she had become an invalid by 1831 owing to a burst blood vessel. Nevertheless, she continued her literary activity and became best known for this highly popular work. The first edition, published by John Murray in two volumes in 1835, is reissued here in a single volume. In the course of the century after its appearance, the book went through seventy editions and sold some 80,000 copies. Its success stemmed partly from its romantic and patriotic depiction of the protagonists of English history. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are Callcott's travel journals describing her time in India, Brazil and Chile.