Howitt, William, 1792-1879

William Howitt (1792–1879) was an English writer whose biographical details are limited in publicly available sources; five of his works are held in this collection. Judging from these works, his subjects were wide-ranging: The Student-Life of Germany examines foreign customs and youth culture, while the two-volume Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets links literary memory by visiting the places where poets lived, blending biography with travel writing. He also published the story collection Luke Barnicott, and Other Stories and Colonization and Christianity, which touches on the relationship between colonial expansion and religious ethics. Howitt's writing tends toward reportage and the essay, with attention to local scenery and the details of daily life, offering some value for understanding the literary geography and intellectual climate of nineteenth-century Britain.