William Godwin, Collection

William Godwin (1756 – 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous for Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams, which attacks aristocratic privilege, but also is the first mystery novel. In the ensuing conservative reaction to British radicalism, Godwin was attacked, in part because of his marriage to the pioneering feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft in 1797 and his candid biography of her after her death; their daughter, Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley) would go on to write Frankenstein and marry the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Godwin wrote prolifically in the genres of novels, history and demography throughout his lifetime. In this ebook:

•        Lives of the Necromancers (1834)

•        Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798)

•        Thoughts on Man, his Nature, Productions, and Discoveries, Interspersed with some particulars respecting the author (1831)

•        Things as They Are; or The Adventures of Caleb Williams (often abbreviated to Caleb Williams) (1794)

•        Imogen, a pastoral romance from the ancient British, (1784)