The scholar and educationist Mary Everest (1832-1916) was educated by her father, the Rev. Thomas Roupell Everest (brother of Sir George Everest, the Surveyor-General of India after whom Mount Everest is named), and at schools in England and France: ‘[a]lgebra and arithmetic were special interests and she read avidly, particularly works on religion and the ancient occult sciences’ (ODNB). In 1850, she met the mathematician, logician, and educator George Boole (1815-1864), and five years later they married. Mary worked with Boole on his mathematical studies, assisting him with his textbooks. Following Boole’s death in 1864, Mary took up a position in Queen’s College, London, but her unorthodox views led to the termination of her employment. She began publishing on a wide range of subjects, pursuing her interests in psychic and psychological matters. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Mary developed an interest in progressive education, and The Cultivation of the Mathematical Imagination resulted from this interest. It was apparently privately published by Mary; according to the loosely-inserted letterpress slip “The following paper was written by Prof. [John] Perry’s wish, in order to facilitate comprehension of how to put pupils into the condition of mind in which such mathematical knowledge as they may acquire at school will be of use in after-life for the understanding of the physical sciences”. The booklet was seen at the time as contributing to Perry’s campaign to reform mathematical education, and was well reviewed in Nature. Copies rarely come on to the market, and Worldcat records 6 copies in institutions, five of these being in Britain.