Publisher’s Note

In the fifty years since the publication of Robert Peel’s groundbreaking biography, it has come to occupy a central place in the study of the life of Mary Baker Eddy and the history of Christian Science. Subsequent biographers have invariably built upon the foundation of Peel’s comprehensive research in the Church archives and his penetrating historical analysis. When half a century has transpired since the initial publication of a work of such significance, a new edition is in order. In this case, it is not to correct mistakes in the original, but to make more useful and accessible for a new generation of readers this remarkable contribution to the understanding of the life and times of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

Those comparing this new edition to the original will find the core of Peel’s text unchanged. Printer’s errors have been corrected and a few typographical details have been standardized. Following Peel, no attempt has been made to correct or systematize misspellings and other peculiarities in quotations from primary-source documents; occasionally, bracketed additions are included to avoid confusion. Also, as in the first edition, and following standard practice, underlines in manuscript sources are converted to italics; however, when Peel references an annotation in an archival copy of a printed source, underlined passages are underlined in this edition. 

The most substantial difference between the first and the present edition is the relocation of Peel’s extensive notes and references. They  ● ● ●