MARGARET (WILSON OLIPHANT) OLIPHANT - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 9/14 - HFSID 73392

MARGARET (WILSON OLIPHANT) OLIPHANT
The writer of over 120 novels pens a thank you letter to a friend
Autograph letter signed: "Margaret Oliphant W. Oliphant ", 2 pages (integral leaf), 3½x5¼. No place, September 14, no year. To "Dear Sir", in full: "I am much obliged to you for your letter. It cannot but be a great pleasure to hear that one has been able to give a little solace to the suffereing. It is the only nonsense in kind which a writer can hope for believing me. Truly yours ". Margaret Oliphant Wilson (1828-1897) published her first book Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland in 1849, followed by Caleb Field (1851) and Adam Graeme (1852). The success of these early novels caught the attention of William Blackwood of the famous Blackwood's Magazine, and he recruited her as a contributor.  From there, Oliphant would write over 100 articles for Blackwood's Magazine, as well as over 120 novels throughout her career, including He That Will Not When He May (1880), The Laird of Norlaw (1858) and The Chronicles of Carlingford.  Married to her cousin who worked in stained glass, Oliphant's family health was plagued with illness and misfortune, and the writer saw her husband and all 6 of her children die (3 of them during infancy).  When her last child, Francis, died in 1894, she lost her will for living, and declined into poor health, passing away in 1897.  Her last major article before her death, The Anti-Marriage League established a discussion on orthodoxy versus the new woman of the modern era, and her arguments would be the platform of debate for feminists emerging in the turn of the century. Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned. Light adhesive residue on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.