PACKARD, E[lizabeth] P[arsons] W[are]. Modern Persecution, or, Insane Asylums Unveiled, As Demonstrated By the Report of the Investigating Committee of the Legislature of Illinois.

Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1873. 16mo (8.25" x 6"); 402pp. Eight illustrations, all present. Brown tooled cloth with gilt decoration to front, back, and spine. Boards show some rubbing and some solid bumping to corners, with scuffs down joints and some overall dulling, though gilt to spine is still bright. Gilt page edges dulled. Shallow crease along fore-edge of frontis, with light dampstain at top corner of first 100 or so pages, not involving text. Binding is holding soundly and pages are unmarked.

Originally published in 1868 as The Prisoner's Hidden Life, or, Insane Asylums Unveiled. This edition is Volume 1 of a two-volume set, though the second, Modern Persecution, or, Married Woman's Liabilities was related more in terms of the author's advocacy for both issues than in subject matter itself. Institutionalized by her husband--a minister, with whom she was having religious disagreements--under a caveat in Illinois law allowing husbands to commit their wives without trial or consent, Packard spent three years at Jacksonville Insane Asylum before managing to gain a trial for her sanity. The jury declared in her favor after only seven minutes. After her release, she founded the Anti-Insane Asylum Society and became an advocate both for women's rights and for people accused of insanity, publishing a handful of books on the subjects.

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