Strive and Thrive: A Tale

by Mary Botham Howitt

Strive and A Tale by Mary Howitt. Published by James Munroe and Company, Boston, in 1940. First American edition, first printing, with the title page dated 1840 in Roman numerals. Dark-brown ribbed full-cloth binding with gilt lettering on the front cover and blindstamped designs on both covers. 175 pages. Small book, which measures 6 3/8" x 4 1/8" x 1/2".

175 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Mary Howitt (12 March 1799 – 30 January 1888) was an English poet, and author of the famous poem The Spider and the Fly.

She was born Mary Botham at Coleford, in Gloucestershire, the temporary residence of her parents, while her father, Samuel Botham, a prosperous Quaker of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, was looking after some mining property. Samuel had married his wife Ann in South Wales in 1796, when he was 38 and she was 32. They had four children Anna, Mary, Emma and Charles. Their Queen Anne house is now known as Howitt Place. Mary Botham was educated at home, read widely, and began writing verse at a very early age.

Reviews

[Glenn Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good and well written story, ruined by the whinging, completely dislikeable main character, Edward Walsingham. By the halfway point I gave up, wanting only for someone to slap him across the back of the head and tell him to wake up to himself.