Timeline of Mary Wollstonecraft

As poet Robert Southey later wrote: "few persons but those who have lived in it can conceive or comprehend what the memory of the French Revolution was, nor what a visionary world seemed to open upon those who were just entering it.

"[1] Part of what made reform possible in Britain in the second half of the eighteenth century was the dramatic increase in publishing; books, periodicals, and pamphlets became much more widely available than they had been just a few decades earlier.

[4] This new vision of society rested on the writings of Scottish Enlightenment philosophers such as Adam Smith, who had developed a theory of social progress founded on sympathy and sensibility.

A partial critique of the rationalist Enlightenment, these theories promoted a combination of reason and feeling that enabled women to enter the public sphere because of their keen moral sense.

She sought out intellectual debate at the home of her publisher Joseph Johnson, who gathered leading thinkers and artists for weekly dinners,[6] and she traveled extensively, first to be a part of the French revolution and later to seek a lost treasure ship for her lover in what was then exotic Scandinavia, turning her journey into a travel book, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Half-length portrait of a woman leaning on a desk with a book and an inkstand. She is wearing a blue-striped dress and a gray, curly wig crossed by a white band of cloth.
Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1791)
A painting of a man standing with his back to the viewer. He is atop a mountain and surrounded by clouds and fog. He is dressed in black and contrasts sharply with the whites, pinks, and blues of the atmosphere. In the distance outcroppings of rocks can be seen.
Man dressed in elaborate gold, white, and black coronation robes made of satin and fur.
Title page reads "Émile, ou de L'Education. Par J. J. Rousseau, Citoyen de Genève....Tome Premier. A La Haye, Chez jean Neaulme, Libraire. M.DCC.LXII...."
A charitable couple giving money to a poor monk.
Half-length portrait of a man with a short gray wig and curls over both ears. His cream-colored jacket is decorated with medals and a light blue sash.
Half-length profile portrait of a woman wearing a bonnet
Half-length portrait of a woman looking left and away from the viewer. The painting is done in a palette of browns. Her hat, with its elaborate bow, dominates the top third of the painting. She is wearing a cream-colored dress with a rose-colored bow on the front of the bosom.
Picture of a model of a hot air balloon, which has a blue background and is decorated with gold.
Quarter-length portrait of a man wearing minister's clothes and a wig.
Page reads "THOUGHTS ON THE EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS. THE NURSERY. As I conceive it to be the duty of every rational creature to attend to its offspring, I am sorry to observe, that reason and duty together have not so powerful an influence over human"
On the left-hand side of the painting, a building with towers is being attacked and is bathed in flames. On the right-hand side, black smoke billows around. At the base of the piece, small people are fighting and destroying the building brick by brick.
Title page reads "A Vindication of the Rights of Men, in a Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke; Occasioned by His Reflections on the Revolution in France. By Mary Wollstonecraft. The Second Edition. London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul's Church-Yard. M.DCC.XC."
Half=length portrait of a man turned towards the left and looking inquiringly out towards the viewer. He is wearing a dark red velvet jacket and a white shirt and there are papers next to him.
Title page reads "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. By Mary Wollstonecraft. London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul's church-Yard. 1792."
Three-quarter length portrait of a woman holding a book on a green velvet pillow. She is wearing a red and gold velvet dress adorned with a thin, white organza around the bosom and a gray wig, also adorned by thin, white material.
Oil painting of a woman sitting in a striped chair. She is wearing a dark-colored dress, with a shawl, contrasted with her tight, white cap and collar. Next to her is a table with writing instruments.
Left-looking portrait of a slightly pregnant woman in a white dress
Half-length profile portrait of a man. His dark clothing blends into the background and his white face is in stark contrast.