Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is the biography, by William Godwin, of his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the essay A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Defense of Women's Rights, 1792).William Godwin considered it his duty to review and publish the unfinished works left by Mary Wollestonecraft after his death in 1797. A week after his funeral, he began working on this project, and began writing memoirs about his life. To prepare to write this biography, he re-read all his works, spoke with his friends, and finally classified and numbered his correspondence. After four months of hard work, he had completed both projects. According to William St Clair, who wrote a biography of Godwin and Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft was so famous at the time that William Godwin did not have to mention his name in the title of the biography ...

Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is William Godwin's biography of his late wife Mary Wollstonecraft. Rarely published in the nineteenth century and sparingly even today, Memoirs is most often viewed as a source for information on Wollstonecraft.

No feminism or feminist philosophy without “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”. Wollstonecraft argues not only that women ought to have the education of a woman should fit her position and role in society, but also that they are human beings and thus deserve the same fundamental rights as men.

This is William Godwin's biography of his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Unusually frank for its time, Godwin does not shrink from presenting the parts of Wollstonecraft's life that late 18th century British society would have judged either immoral or in bad taste; such as her close friendship with a woman, her love affairs, her illegitimate child, her suicide attempts and her painful death.