Emma Catherine Embury

Emma Catherine Embury (née Manley; February 25, 1806 – February 10, 1863) was an American writer and poet. Under the pen name of "Ianthe", she contributed to the periodicals of the day, and may be considered among the pioneers of female literature in the United States. Her many poems and tales were afterwards collected and published in book form. Among these volumes are The Blind Girl and Other Tales, Glimpses of Home Life, Pictures of Early Life, Nature's Gems, or American Wild Flowers, and The Waldorf Family, a fairy tale of Brittany, partly a translation and partly original (1848).

Early years She was born Emma Catherine Manley in New York City on February 25, 1806. She was the eldest child of Dr. James R. Manley, an eminent physician of New York, and Elizabeth Post.

As a child she was precocious, and learned to read almost intuitively. Early on, she developed a talent for compositions, and her juvenile productions are remarkable for their graceful and flowing rhythm.

Career She became a regular contributor of juvenile verse and stories to the New York Mirror by the age of twenty. Many of her early writings were printed under the pseudonym "Ianthe". During the 1830s and 1840s, she served as a host or guest at literary salons in New York City in the circle including Anne Lynch Botta and Frances Sargent Osgood.

Selected works

Guido: A Tale (1828) Love's Token Flowers (1846) Pictures of Early Life (1830) Constance Latimer: or, The Blind Girl (1838) American Wild Flowers in Their Native Haunts (1845) Glimpses of Home Life: or, Causes and Consequences (1848) The Waldorf Family: or, Grandfather's Legends (1848)

Other works published posthumously: The Greek Slave: A Story (1864) Poems of Emma C. Embury (1869) Prose Writings of Emma C. Embury (1893)