A View of the Life, Travels, And Philanthropic Labours of the Late..

1794. Owned by a Father and Daughter from a Philadelphia Quaker Family Aikin, John [1747-1822]. Hayley, William [1745-1820]. A View of the Life, Travels, And Philanthropic Labors of the Late John Howard, Esquire, L.L.D. F.R.S. Philadelphia: Printed for John Ormrod, by W.W. Woodward, 1794. 196, [8] pp. Copperplate portrait frontispiece of Howard with tissue guard. Ode Inscribed to John Howard by Hayley has separate title page. Publisher's advertisements to last 3 pp. 12mo (6-1/2" x 4"; 16.8 x 10 cm). Contemporary sheep treated to resemble tree calf, gilt fillets and lettering piece to spine, gilt tooling to board edges. Front board and front free endpaper detached, rear board separating, moderate rubbing and light wear to extremities, owner initials (M.R.F.) to front pastedown and bookplate (Mary R. Fox) to verso of front free endpaper, owner stamp (William L. Fisher) and inscription ("Wm. L. Fishers/ No. 8. 1799") to front endleaves. Moderate toning to interior, occasional light foxing and faint staining. $350. * First edition, also issued in Boston the same year. After being shocked by the conditions of his county prison as high sheriff, Howard dedicated his life to the cause of prison reform and toured hundreds of prisons and hospitals with a particular focus on sanitation. His two major works, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales (1st ed. 1777) and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe (1st ed. 1789), were widely read and inspired significant reforms to the prison system. A second and final edition of this biography appeared in 1814. Our copy of the first edition was owned by William Logan Fisher [1781-1862] and his daughter Mary Rodman Fox, nee Fisher [1822-1903]. The Fishers were an old, important family of Philadelphia Quakers. William Fisher was a successful merchant who wrote several religious tracts. His daughter married into another Quaker family. Evans, American Bibliography 26543.