Periodical culture was the realm within which Wollstonecraft realized, in her words, a “new plan of life,” marked by “a little peace and independence.”1 While not the first female writer to publish criticism, Wollstonecraft has been rightly identified as “the first truly professional woman literary critic,”2 as she managed to support herself by working as a periodical contributor and editorial assistant for the last ten years of her life. Describing her ambition to her sister Everina, Wollstonecraft declared herself an original species, emboldened by the encouragement of her publisher Joseph Johnson: “Mr. Johnson … assures me that if I exert my talents in writing I may support myself in a comfortable way. I am then going to be the first of a new genus—.”3 In 1787, Johnson welcomed Wollstonecraft back to London after a series of professional and personal setbacks, including the closing of her school at Newington Green, the death of Fanny Blood, and her dismissal as governess by Lady Kingsborough. Johnson’s financial, intellectual, and emotional support would continue to play an integral role in Wollstonecraft’s career, but it was his launching of the Analytical Review in 1788 that provided Wollstonecraft with the means of making a living via a robust participation in the public sphere. In this way, periodicals served as a proving ground for Wollstonecraft’s social and political philosophy, and a means by which she developed her singular feminist voice.