The writer Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825) was famous for her poems and essays, her writings for children (she and her husband ran a school), and for her edition of the correspondence of Samuel Richardson (also reissued in this series). The sister of John Aikin, the physician and writer, she moved in the dissenting circle of the Warrington Academy, where her father was a teacher: Joseph Priestley was a close friend. This two-volume edition of some of her poems and prose works was compiled by her niece Lucy Aikin (also a writer), and published soon after her death in 1825. The wit, elegance and deep feeling of Barbauld's works led to her being regarded as one of the most important writers of the early Romantic period. Volume 1 contains a short biography and a selection of poems in many genres, including a comic description of Priestley's study.