Summer 2004 Miscellany

Sterling silver demitasse spoon: 4" long by 15/16" wide (across bowl). Bowl displays the legend "National / Woman Suffrage / Convention / 1912." At top of handle, on a banner, is "Philadelphia," followed down the length of the handle by the city seal, a portrait of William Penn, an image of Independence Hall, an eagle, and the Liberty Bell with words, "Liberty / Equality / Unity." On the reverse of the handle is another series of Philadelphia images: City Hall, the Post Office, Girard Medical College, etc., and the maker’s mark, fine in custom-made purple cloth and velvet box with leather label tooled in gold on spine. The Watson Company was known for its sterling silver spoons, flatware, and hollowware. This is a very ornate and elaborate spoon and apparently the only spoon ever commissioned by the NAWSA.

The NAWSA had much to celebrate at this convention which met November 21st through 26th. Woman suffrage had come to Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona and it looked as if it would pass as well in Michigan. Suffragist leaders sensed the tide had turned in their direction and suffrage forces were jubilant as they converged on Philadelphia.(9121)

First Edition thus. Small 8vo; [i-ii] 1-20, 1-32, 1-39 [xv], 1-12, 1-16, 1-132, 1-32, 1-55, TOC [lvi] totaling 222pp; original blue cloth over boards with title stamped in black on front panel, original drab wrappers, printed in black repeating entire text of title page on front wrapper, back wrapper with text not repeated anywhere else.

"Come to National Headquarters For / WHAT YOU NEED FOR / SUFFRAGE WORK / Here You Will Find / A Large Light Room / for Study and Research / A Complete Stock of / Suffrage Literature and Supplies / An Agency for / Suffrage Plays and Entertainments / A Travelling Picture Gallery of Eminent Suffragists / Suffragists from out of town are especially urged to visit / Headquarters for conferences on methods of work, situa- / tions in the various states, new developments, and spe- / cial requirements in the way of literature and supplies / SEND FOR CATALOGUE [Double rule] Subscribe for / THE WOMAN’S JOURNAL / The only suffrage paper of national scope / Official Organ of the Association / Alice Stone Blackwell, Editor / $1.00 per year Published weekly 5 cents per copy [Single rule] / Address / National American Woman / Suffrage Association / 505 Fifth Avenue, New York City."

The book itself is near fine with tiny bit of rubbing to lower tips and spine end, offsetting from dust jacket flaps to both paste downs and endpapers; dust jacket chipped along top and bottom edges and nearly split at front flap fold, no loss of text except for top of "F" in first line of text on back flap, altogether very good. Dust jackets from the pre-World War I period are scarce; those on books designed to be used in political campaigns are especially so.

The was probably the first printing of the "blue book" which was reprinted with varied contents up until the passage of the Anthony Amendment. The eight essays included in this edition are cited by Krichmar as appearing separately in 1912, a year later after (according to him) the printing of this edition. The exception to this is the essay by Carrie Chapman Catt which he does NOT cite in any other edition. The essays included are: "Why Women Should Vote" by Jane Addams, "Objections Answered" by Alice Stone Blackwell, "Where Women Vote" by Frances Maule Bjorkman, "Do You Know?" by Carrie Chapman Catt, "A Common Sense View of Woman Suffrage" by Jesse Lynch Williams, "Why Women Want to Vote" by Frances Maule Bjorkman, "Measuring Up Equal Suffrage" by George Creel and Judge Ben B. Lindsey, "Eminent Opinions" [various sources].

There was an edition of the "Blue Book" published in 1910 but the contents were different. In 1971, a reprint of both the 1910 and 1911 editions was made. While a number of libraries have the 1911 edition (29 according to OCLC / RLIN) none mention a dust jacket. The text on the rear panel of the jacket is significant, showing a real attempt to bring suffragists from across the country to NY Headquarters for "indoctrination" in "selling suffrage" in their respective states. Krichmar 1865. (9411)

First Edition. Small 8vo; 268 pp + 4 pp. ads. Original gold-brown cloth with black stamping of title around image of despondent seated male Native American, spine in gilt and black with image of plow going through furrow; front and rear endpapers with publishers ads; some soiling to spine and spine edges, corners and tips slightly rubbed and bumped, but overall a very good copy.

The 1881 Indian reform novel PLOUGHED UNDER, written in a first person account is of ambiguous authorship, but it is clearly not written by a male Indian chief, as indicated. Reportedly, Susette La Flesche Tibbles contributed much of the information used to create the story and give it authenticity, in addition to writing the Introduction. She was an early advocate of Indian rights, and the Introduction, although short, is an eloquent re-statement of the "Indian question" advocating the only just solution of full citizenship with all attendant rights and responsibilities.

It is one of the earliest books - if not the earliest - in which a full-blooded Native American woman writer was a major contributor, and an early, important volume in the history of Native American literature, and particularly Native American women’s literature.

Susette La Flesche Tibbles [Inshta Theamba or "Bright Eyes"] (1854-1903), writer, orator, and defender of Native American rights, was born on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska. Her father, Chief Joseph LaFlesche, firmly believed in the value of white education for Native American children and supported mission schools on reservations. Consequently, Susette was educated at a mission school then sent to the Elizabeth Institute of Young Ladies in New Jersey in 1872, Susette LaFlesche’s father was originally from the Ponca tribe, a neighboring tribe of the Omahas. In 1878 the Poncas were forcibly removed from their land by the U. S. Army and sent to Oklahoma. Ponca Chief Standing Bear led a party back to their homeland along the Niobrara River in Nebraska during the winter of 1878-1879, and he and members of his party were arrested. Susette LaFlesche testified in the April 1879 trial which launched her career as a writer, orator, and defender of Indian rights. She went on six-month tour with Standing Bear sponsored by Thomas Henry Tibbles, assistant editor of the OMAHA HERALD, whom she later married. She visited a variety of venues in Chicago, Boston, New York, Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, and while touring she met and influenced people such as Helen Hunt Jackson and Alice C. Fletcher. While Susette LaFlesche Tibbles was best known for her oratory ability, she was also a writer. She published work in the children’s magazine ST. NICHOLAS and in WIDE AWAKE and continued to work for the rights of her people until her death in 1903. NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN: A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, pp. 150-152. Wright III, 2522 (under William Justin Harsha). (9422)

First Edition. 8vo; original green gilt-stamped cloth, a bit shaken, corners bumped and rubbed, spine ends rubbed, good+. A curious book indeed that may or may not be an autobiographical account of the author’s life.

Annie Nelles Dumond is the author of Revenia; or, The Outcast Redeemed (1872) listed in Wright survey of American fiction, and it seems likely that this tale of an abandoned wife, her trials and tribulations is also fiction. However, this title is cited in Sabin as perhaps pseudonymous. In addition, Nelles Dumond wrote National Reform, a pro-temperance novel published in 1871. While the title offered here appears on University of Michigan’s list of biographies and autobiographies of women, we can find no record of Nelles’ life. The prose borders on turgid; the circumstances appear more than a bit disingenuous. Still, it is an interesting choice of career for woman in 1867 - whether real or imagined. There can’t have been many women who traveled throughout the United States selling books at that time. Wright II, 800. Sabin 52304. (6879)

First Edition. 8vo; xii, 241pp; bound in original patterned paper over boards in purple, gold, and back, purple cloth spine (faded to blue), wear to corners, spine lettering faded but legible, owner’s name and date of 1928 on ffep; very good.

Mary White Ovington (1865-1951), civil rights reformer, was a founder and board chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Her early education and intellectual influences inclined Ovington to optimistic evolutionism, social reform, and woman’s rights. Later taking a more radical turn, "she always looked at social problems through the analytical framework of class." - NAW. Early on she helped to found and worked at Greenpoint Settlement in Brooklyn, became vice-president of the Brooklyn Consumers’ League, and was assistant secretary of the Social Reform Club in New York.

It was not until Ovington was thirty-eight and heard a speech by Booker T. Washington at the Reform Club that she was fully aware of racial discrimination in the north. From that time until her death Ovington dedicated her life to the achievement of racial equality. She did social work among African-Americans which resulted in her book HALF A MAN: THE STATUS OF THE NEGRO IN NEW YORK. She then focused on The National League for the Protection of Colored Women and the Committee for Improving the Industrial Condition of Negroes in New York. Ovington began a deep friendship with the black scholar and powerful personality W. E. B. Dubois who considered her "one of two white associates who were entirely free of race prejudice." - NAW. Ovington was one of a very select group of white reformers in the NAACP, she held many high positions within it. As a champion of integration, her influence was enormous. Ovington was also a feminist, pacifist, and anti-imperialist. NAW II, pp. 517-519. (9353)

First Edition. 12mo; 400pp; green cloth blind and gilt-stamped cloth, buff endpapers, spine elaborately gilt-stamped with leaves and author and title in script on diagonal, "Fanny Fern" in gilt on front panel within blind cartouche of grapes and leaves. There is a tiny bit of rubbing at tips and spine ends, endpapers somewhat foxed, else this is a lovely copy, the gilt stamping fresh and the text tight and clean. This is the nicest copy we’ve seen of a book that almost always has condition problems.

Sara Payson Willis (1811-1872), America’s first woman newspaper columnist and originator of the saying, "The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach" was the daughter of Nathaniel Willis, editor and found of two Boston newspapers, and a sister of N.P. Willis, New York poet and journalist. But, her meteoric rise to fame was accomplished without the help of — in fact without the knowledge of — her family.

Her autobiographic novel, RUTH HALL, is a rags to riches story with a difference: the heroine realizes the American dream of success on her own, without the help of or by marrying a man, just as the author, "Fanny Fern" had. And, for this she was roundly criticized as unfeminine. A graduate of Catharine Beecher’s Female Seminary, she earned herself the reputation of a cut-up and wit. Left a widow with two young children to support at the age of 35, she entered a disastrous marriage of convenience to Samuel Farrington, whom she left two years later. This scandalized her family who refused to support her or her children. She began writing for the "Boston Olive Branch" and "True Flag," followed by work as a regular columnist for the "New York Musical World and Times." Her witty, satirical pieces were immensely popular and her essays were gathered and published in FERN LEAVES FROM FANNY’S PORTFOLIO (1853), which was a bestseller.

After the publication of RUTH HALL, she was offered the sum of $100 a column to write for the "New York Ledger," making her the highest paid newspaper writer of her day. Later marrying James Parton, she continued her weekly column for the Ledger for the rest of her life. An advocate of economic independence for women — a cause very close to her personally — while questioning male authority and conventional marriage patterns, puts her in the front line of American women "pioneers" of the 19th century. She was the first woman to publicly express her appreciation of Walt Whitman’s genius in her review of LEAVES OF GRASS in the "Ledger "(1856). Although Fern wrote another novel, it is RUTH HALL that is considered her most important work. Praised by Nathaniel Hawthorne (he of the "mob of scribbling women" quote) for precisely the reasons others criticized the novel, he wrote that she tore off the strait-jacket of convention and came before the public "stark naked" which was the only way for a woman to write anything worthwhile. An important American 19th century novel. NAW III, pp. 24-5. WOMEN’S WRITING, pp. 316-317. Wright II, 1849. Warren, Joyce W. "Legacy." Fall, 1985. EMERGING VOICES, p. 51. (9377)

First Edition. Folio; 35pp; (each); including front and back wrappers, illustrations in both issues including photographs and the large front-page political cartoon, printed on newsprint, "The Suffragist" title appearing at the head of the front page of both issues, printed in black on three large stripes of purple, white and yellow, with date and price of "Fifteen Cents". Very minor sunning at edges, minor chipping at edges, both creased horizontally, No. 6 (only) with stamp "Smith College Library l/ Northampton, Mass. / Sophia Smith Collection" crossed out, else very good. Important primary source material for the last crucial phase of the American female suffrage movement.

In 1916, Alice Paul (1885-1977), along with Lucy Burns (1879-1966) and Inez Milholland, through the (1886-1916) Congressional Union, which later became the National Woman’s Party, started its own magazine "The Suffragist," which was the official journal of this more radical (than NAWSA) suffrage group. These two issues focus on the final days of the push for the woman suffrage amendment. The Editorial in No. 5 starts, "The Republican Party is responsible for the continued delay in the ratification of the suffrage amendment." The issue focuses on the struggle in Delaware, Connecticut, and Vermont. Also included is an article, "The Law and the Lady" asks the question, "How Soon Will a Woman Sit on the Supreme Bench?" It gives a history of the attempts by women to gain admittance to the bar, law school, and the bench.

With details from Myra Bradwell, Ellen Spencer Mussey (pictured), tells her and woman’s history carrying to the present. There is a double-page spread of photographs of the officers of the Woman’s Party. The journal also contains articles on "Bills in Congress Relating to Women" and "Women in Industry." There are two articles on feminist libraries, with a "Bibliography of Feminism" with includes Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Alice Duer Miller but also "The Cat That Walk by Himself " from the JUST SO STORIES by Kipling with the note, "Kipling proves to be a good feminist in spite of himself." The back cover gives the history of the Anthony Amendment.

No. 6 details the special legislative session in Tennessee that led to the passage of the Anthony Amendment as well as the Woman’s Party picket of the Republican National Convention - with photos - including one of Olympia Brown at an advanced age, still fighting for women’s rights. There is an article about Rose Schneiderman, the first woman to be nominated by a party for a U.S. senatorship (nominated by the NY State Women’s Trade Union League and a candidate of the Labor Party. There is an article about Adelaide Johnson and her commission by the National Woman’s Party of a statue honoring Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

The illustrator for "The Suffragist" was Nina Evan Allender, born in Auburn, Kansas. In 1872, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was a member of the National Women’s Party. Edited by Florence Brewer Boeckel with the assistance of Eleanor Taylor Marsh, the journal also lists Alice Henry as Book Review Editor. The National Woman’s Party Executive Committee, the National Committee of State Chairmen and the National Advisory Council are listed in full on each inside front cover. Ford, IRON-JAWED ANGELS, pp. 61, 63, 66. Coolidge, WOMEN’S RIGHTS: THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA, 1848-1920, pp. 120-1, 146-7, 151-2, 159, 171-4. (9376)

One of 750 copies signed by poet and artist all on mold made Magnani paper. Page size: 17-5/8 x 17½." Translated by Eliot Weinberger with Spanish and English on same page and printed in two colors, the Spanish in red and the English in black. With 26 original lithographs by Motherwell, printed at Trestle Editions on various Japanese papers.

Bound in tan linen with litho inlaid on front board and clamshell box. Hand set at Stamperia Valdonega in Bauer Bodoni Bold and Bauer Bodoni Bold Italic. The first poem was printed by Dan Keleher and Bruce Chandler at Wild Carrot Letterpress, the second at Stamperia Valdonega, the third at Heritage Printers. Designed by Benjamin Shiff, this is a lovely edition of the poetry of Octavio Paz. Motherwell has published two other livres d’artiste: A LA PINTURA, poetry by Raphael Alberti and EL NEGRO MOTHERWELL, poetry by Raphael Alberti. His affinity with Spanish language authors is clear and reinforced with this powerful book. (4231)

69. Proust, Marcel. Ruskin, John. Sesame et les Lys. Des Tresors des Rois des Jardins des Reines. Traduction, Notes et Preface par Marcel Proust. Paris: Societe du Mercure de France, 1906. $5,000

First Edition, inscribed by Proust to his good friend, Leon Belugou on the half-title, "a Monsieur L. Belugou / Amical et reconnaissant souvenir / Marcel Proust", ordinary paper issue, #819, total unspecified. Original yellow wrappers printed in black, 234pp; + 8pp. ads, wrappers age-toned and dusty, text pages browned, front leaves a bit loose, a few pages dog-eared, still a very good copy housed in custom-made black cloth clamshell box.

SESAME ET LES LYS was Marcel Proust’s second book and his first translation. It was published by Mercure de France, the avant-garde literary journal and publisher. Leon Belugou, journalist and scholar, the recipient of this inscribed copy, was on the staff of the journal "Mercure de France." He certainly corresponded with Proust in 1905-1906 (correspondence recently discovered). Whether or not he influenced the journal with regard to publication of Proust’s book has yet to be examined. There is a previously unpublished photograph of these two friends with the Duc de Gramont at the races in Deauville in 1909 in Lettres a l’ami francais (item 123), edited by Claudine Lesage. Belugou, like Proust, was introduced at the highest levels of French society; in 1902 he became the tutor to the Duc de Gramont’s children. While neither Proust nor Belugou was a part of the most exalted social circle, they both were in a position to know it intimately. This is a fascinating association copy - an association newly discovered and yet to be fully explored. (9243)

First Edition, one of 910 copies on Velin. Small 4to; 66pp; original blue wrappers printed in black, some soiling to edges of wrappers, spine slightly sunned, edges a bit rumpled, about very good. With the ex-libris of French man of letters, editor at "Mercure de France" and friend of Proust, Leon Belugou. The publisher, Simon Kra, was the name taken by Surrealist’s art dealer and publisher, Daniel Kahnweiler. With the anti-German sentiment in Paris during and after WWI, he changed the name of his gallery and publishing business but continued to publish the avant-garde in France. (9445)

71. [Putnam, Mary Traill Spence Lowell] . Record of an Obscure Man. "Aux plus desherites le plus d’amour." Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1861. $500

First Edition, trade issue (50 copies of a limited edition with additional notes was also published). 12mo; 216pp; brown cloth, title in gilt on spine, spine sunned, minor wear to tips, generally a very good copy.

Mary Lowell Putnam (1810-1898) was born into a family of noted liberal-thinking ministers: her father, Charles Lowell (to whom this book is dedicated), was a well-known and respected minister and among her siblings was noted author James Russell Lowell. As many of the Boston clergy of the time, the Lowells’ strong liberal views extended beyond religious matters: they abhorred slavery and empathized with those subjected to its inhumanity. Unlike many of their contemporaries, however, they found much in Afro-American culture to admire and esteem. Mary Lowell absorbed this from her distinguished family, acquiring an appreciation of a culture which larger society would scarcely credit with being a culture at all. She appreciated the beauty of Afro-American music, the strength of an oral tradition with persisted in the eloquence of Afro-American preachers and the dignity and intelligence of a people enduring despite a system intended to render them useful ciphers.

She set forth her views in four books, two novels and two plays, all with anti-slavery themes and all published anonymously. RECORD OF AN OBSCURE MAN is Putnam’s first original work, preceded only by her translation (she was an exceptional linguist) from the Swedish of Fredrika Bremer’s play THE BONDMAID (1844). Told from the viewpoint of Edward Colvil, a New England farmer and poet transplanted to the south, RECORD OF AN OBSCURE MAN is a didactic novel intended to illuminate racial attitudes, insist on greater awareness of the history of the slave trade and how African roots have affected those brought to America. Mrs. Putnam eschews angry diatribe for a more reasoned prose, but her call for justice, humanity and understanding is no less passionate and her keen appreciation of Afro-American culture is virtually unique in the literature of the anti-slavery movement. Wright II 1981 "Story incidental to the discourse on Negroes and slavery." Sabin 66834 (trade issue only). Foley, AMERICAN AUTHORS, p. 235. Adelman, FAMOUS WOMEN. Appleton Vol. V, p. 143. (9263)

First Edition. 12mo; 389pp; including 10-page index; original green blind and gilt-stamped cloth, minor rubbing to covers, bit of sunning to spine, 1 x 2½ inch piece cut from rear flyleaf, title page with a bit of foxing, about very good. Together with LIFE IN JUDEA the author seeks to paint a fictionalized portrait of the Jewish past as detailed in the Bible. Wright 2029 (9441)

73. Roosevelt, Eleanor. This I Remember. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, [1949]. $1,250

First Edition, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "Inscribed for / Mrs. M. D. Lubratovich / with good wishes / Eleanor Roosevelt." 8vo; 387pp; including Index, medium blue linen cloth with facsimile signature in dark blue on front cover, dark blue label in gilt on spine. Dust jacket in terracotta and gold printed in white and black with image of Mrs. Roosevelt (photograph by Karsh) on front cover. Book is sunned about 1/8" along edges of top and bottom, corners bumped, spine of dust jacked a bit sunned, chipped at top of spine about 1/8" down (no loss of text), damp stain on inside of dust jacket showing about 2" by 2" on top of back panel, about very good. Illustrated with 41 black and white photographs, this is a handsome copy of the autobiography of the woman many consider to be the most influential woman of the 20th century. Covering the years from 1924 to 1945, Mrs. Roosevelt recounts her life during those years in which she and her husband occupied a very public space, first as Governor and First Lady of the State of New York and then as President and First Lady of the United States of America during the Depression and World War II and ending with F.D.R.’s death.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) used her position as First Lady to press for women’s rights, civic and social reform. In fact, Mrs. Roosevelt completely changed the role of the First Lady, and in doing so brought about changes to all levels of American society, starting with increased numbers of high-level women in FDR’s administration. Born into a family of wealth and privilege, her marriage to Franklin Roosevelt in 1905 led her into the world of politics. By 1928, she had become a political leader in her own right. AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY, pp. 294-298. TIMELINES, p.. 64. 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN, pp. 3-6. THE WOMEN’S CHRONOLOGY, p. 532, 566. (9413)

First Edition. 12mo; [i-111] iv, [5] - 216pp., engraved frontispiece portrait of Scott by Sartain after a portrait by S. A. Mount; light foxing to portrait; original purple diaper pattern cloth (spine uniformly faded to tan), light blue endpapers, blind rules frame on front cover enclosing a gilt vase of flowers, all-over gilt spine including title; signed binding with small blind-stamp upper right on ffep "B. Bradley, Binder, Boston."; minor rubbing to binding else a fine copy in an attractive trade binding. A scarce and early title of poetry by an American woman, especially in this condition.

Julia H. Kenney Scott (1809- 1842), Unitarian-Universalist, was a poet and miscellaneous prose writer from Towanda, Pennsylvania. Two of her stories were printed separately in Hudson, New York in 1837(see Wright I, 2321-2322); otherwise her work appeared in periodicals and in annual gift books such as THE ROSE OF SHARON. This book contains about 100 poems. Many are nature poems, some are religious, others include "Invocation to Poetry," "The Emigrants Farewell," "To a Friend in the Far West," "Hymn of the Western Missionaries," "Mountain Melodies," and a number of elegiac poems. Sarah Carter Edgarton was one of Scott’s best friends; her memoir occupy 32 pages and includes some letters from Scott to her. Sabin 78334. (9421)

First Edition, inscribed on the front free endpaper "To - J. Lewis Sym, - with Best Wishes / Stanton". While this could be the hand of one of Mrs. Stanton’s 5 sons, in particular, Theodore Stanton, we have not been able to determine this. 8vo; 468pp; + Index of Names and 2 pp publisher’s ads [including one for THE WOMAN’S BIBLE]; black wove cloth stamped in gold on the spine, ex-library, from the Society for Ethical Culture, their stamp on the title page, another on rear endpaper, with small faint stamps on all edges, cover edges rubbed and slightly soiled, front hinge cracked.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention, and the indefatigable advocate of women’s rights in all spheres, was the first woman to propose the vote for woman (at the Seneca Falls Convention). A "Freethinker," she devoted the last third of her life to overturning the hold of organized religion on women’s rights. To this end, she published a new translation of the Bible, THE WOMAN’S BIBLE in 1895 (Vol. II in 1898).

Ethical Culture is a humanistic religious and educational movement inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of human life is working to create a more humane society. Founded in 1876, by Felix Adler the New York Society for Ethical Culture is a community bound together by the belief in the worth and dignity of each person and the commitment to help create a better world. Both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Theodore Stanton were "Freethinkers" and would have supported the Ethical Culture movement in New York.

Theodore Stanton married Marguerite Berry, a French feminist, and spent much of his adult life in France. He was a journalist who also wrote nonfiction books, although his best known book was a defense of European feminism "The Woman Question in Europe". He, together with his sister Harriot Stanton Blatch, edited his mother’s papers, published as ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AS REVEALED IN HER LETTERS, DAIRY, AND REMINISCENCES [2 vols. 1922]. THE FEMINIST COMPANION, p. 1022. Krichmar 5034. NAW, pp. 342-7. 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF ALL TIME (with Susan B. Anthony), pp. 27-30. (9285)

Limited Edition of 1000 copies, signed and numbered by the artist, Second Edition. With introductions by Paul Strand, Leo Hurwitz and David Siqueiros. Folio, cloth: viii+ 20 pp. plates. Page size: 12½ x 16". Bound: unsewn, loose prints and their stiff paper wrapper slip inside a box of natural hemp Small bookseller’s tag on inner spine of box. Box’s stiff slipcase is letterpress printed, with moderate water damage, split at bottom hinges. There is no water damage to the plates, which are in excellent condition.

Paul Strand (American, Naturalized French: 1890-1976) was "one of the towering figures of American 20th c. photography," (THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHOTOGRAPHY). Treating subject matter ranging from landscapes, portraits, and architecture to still-lifes, abstract materials, and vegetation, the virtuoisic Strand was a critical force in photographic modernism and the school of realism known as "straight" photography. He was well-known by numerous avant-garde and abstract artists (abstract painter/sculptor Alfred Stieglitz wrote of him "Strand is...without doubt the only important photographer developed in this country since [Alvin Langdon] Coburn....

He has actually added some original vision to photography"), and his technical gifts, respect for formal composition, and radical political stance made him an artistic force to reckon with. Strand was also involved in a number of film projects, acted as an advisor to the Group Theatre in New York, and produced a number of films for Frontier Films. But he remains best known for his startling and accomplished photographic work, for which he has been immortalized in a major retrospectives and recognized by numerous awards. THE MEXICAN PORTFOLIO is one of the most potent and impressive collections of fine photogravure. Strand’s photographs, taken during an extended stay in Mexico in 1932, depict street scenes, architecture, religious statuary and the people of Mexico. First published in an edition of 250 as PHOTOGRAPHS OF MEXICO (1940), this second edition, from the same steel-faced plates, was actually the one preferred by the photographer. It was hand-pulled under Strand’s supervision by master printer Albert DeLong, of whom Strand praised, "he has made these plates sing." Web addresses for references deleted. (7933)

White ground with "Votes for Women" in blue script at the upper rim of the plate. Seal of the maker at the reverse together with marks indicating this was produced in the reign of George V in 1911, marked "Maddock". All in near fine condition with only a bit of age discoloration, tiny chip to rim of cup. This suffrage pattern has been recently reproduced by the Newport Historical Society.

Commissioned by Mrs. Alva Belmont, this is one of the most dramatic indication of suffragists’ new understanding of the art of political persuasion. It is no surprise then, that Mrs. Belmont would commission her own set of "Votes for Women" china, held a major Suffrage dinner part at her famous home, Marble House, in Newport, Rhode Island. When the dinner was over, each guest was given a place setting to take home.

Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt Belmont (1853-1933), born in Alabama, grew up as a Southern lady. Upon marrying into the wondrously rich Vanderbilt family, Alva focused her impressive energies on winning over New York Society. Her divorce from William Vanderbilt and ensuing marriage to, even richer, Oliver Belmont caused a sensation. The scandal forced the hitherto sheltered society dame to reconsider women’s position. When the Women’s Trade Union League in 1909 supported the garment workers’ on strike. Mrs. Belmont personally went on the streets of New York City; into the city’s jailed and bailed out the arrested strikers. This strike was her initiation into the woman’s suffrage movement. She established her own Political Equality League, paid for the office space for a national NAWSA office in New York City, and under wrote a national press bureau for the association. While her sudden plunge into the movement aroused some skepticism, her commitment proved enduring.

When radical Alice Paul broke off from NAWSA, Mrs. Belmont left the NAWSA to become one of Paul’s most significant supporters. It was at Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island that Alice Paul and her cohorts formulated their plan to hold President Wilson and the Democrats responsible for the lack of progress on woman suffrage. Her dinner service had a sense of sophistication and style and inspired commercial adaptations of the woman suffrage ware. Items from the service are among the rarest and most sought-after-artifacts documenting the women suffrage movement. AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY, pp. 33-34. NAW I pp.126-128. Flexner & FitzPatrick, A CENTURY OF STRUGGLE, pp. 235, 246, 251 & 298. TIMELINES, p. 41. (9317)

Original recording of "Suffragettes March" on blue cylinder, a 4 minute recording by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. Labeled in white on top edge of cylinder, "2413. Suffragettes March. Liberati’s Bank. Thomas A. Edison Pat’d.8." The cylinder is fine. Housed in original container of blue and beige printed paper over board, 2¼ inches in diameter and 4-9/16 inches high. The top (1-1/8 inches) lifts off to reveal cylinder. The top of the lid is labeled "2413 / Suffragettes March / (A. Liberati) / Liberati’s Band / Edison Blue Amberol Record" followed by the small printed detailing Edison’s patent protections. The larger portion of the cylinder box has "Edison’s Blue Amberol Recording" in white on blue ground and a picture of the "wizard of Menlo Park" with the number 2413 stamped in blue above his image. Although the container is somewhat rubbed and soiled, all writing is legible and there is only a bit of white rubbing at top edge of case, near fine. Housed inside the container, besides the recording, is the original printed insert, 4pp; page size: 4 x 3½ inches, tan paper printed in blue, title on front page, 2nd page with information on Alessandro Liberati, 3rd page features "Other Good Band Numbers" and the 4th page features "More Good Band Numbers." The insert has a small stain on front cover, corners a bit ruffled, and are rounded to fit cylinder. While we have seen suffrage sheet music, and printed programs of suffrage events of this period showing that music was an integral part of the women’s broad campaign to secure the vote, we have never seen a suffrage recording. This, from before World War I, is a remarkable survivor.

In 1912, Thomas Alva Edison introduced the celluloid plastic blue Amberol cylinders that played for 4 minutes. It was perhaps one of the finest methods of acoustic recording prior to 1915. In addition to quality, Edison guaranteed them to play 3,000 times before any great wear. Alessandro Liberati (1847-1927), born in Italy, came to US in 1872 and became US Citizen. He directed his own band that toured the US from 1889 - 1919 and 1921-23. That he would record the "Suffragette’s March" indicates its popularity on his tours. See "Cylinders On The Web." (9415)

First Edition of the author’s first book. 8vo; [1-x], 232pp; + [2], 5pp. publisher’s ads; original brown cloth, spine gilt, panels blind-stamped with publishers emblem, corners bumped - bottom corners more so, small dent in rear fore edge, four small stains on middle of spine, uniform fading to spine and edges; pp. 17-19 creased, 1" oval wear spot on brown-coated front free endpaper, small ticket "Geo. W. Alexander, Binder, New York" on rear turn-in; very good.

Margaret J. M. Sweat (1823-1908), author, socialite, philanthropist, world traveler and linguist (fluent in French, Italian, German and Russian) was born and lived in Portland, ME. In 1849 she married the lawyer and state representative, Lorenzo Medici Sweat. An active social figure, she was the Maine regent of the Ladies Mount Vernon Society. Her bequest of the Sweat Mansion and $100,000 to the Portland Society of Art created the Portland Art Museum.

As a writer she was a frequent contributor to the "North American Review" and other periodicals, wrote several travel books, VERSES (1890), as well as ETHEL’S LOVE-LIFE, her only novel and her first book. Told in epistolary style, it is considered to be the first American lesbian novel. The work is an elaborate female erotic fantasy, especially describing her relationship with two women and illuminating nineteenth century women’s romantic friendships. About VERSES, a later book, the FEMINIST COMPANION TO LITERATURE IN ENGLISH notes, "many poems express erotic desire for women." Sweat was an expert on George Sand (whom she translated) and on Charlotte Bronte. Wright II, 2413 -"Written in a series of letters which treat of Lesbianism." Burns, PRIVATE SPHERE / PUBLIC SPHERE: RETHINKING PARADIGMS OF VICTORIAN WOMANHOOD THROUGH THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MARGARET JANE MUSSEY SWEAT, 1993. See also University of New England website, Maine Women Writers. Webber, Carrie. WOMEN AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, University of New England web site. (9416)

First Edition. 8vo; 137pp; original blue gilt-stamped cloth with title on front panel and spine, spine and tips a bit rubbed, ink ownership inscription on front pastedown, else very good.

Carola Woerishoffer (1885-1911), social work and philanthropist was born to a wealthy New York family. From her father who died the year after her birth, she inherited well over a million dollars. She attended Bryn Mawr determined to pursue a career in social work. Immediately upon graduation she joined the board of managers of Greenwich House, a neighborhood settlement founded by Mary Simkhovitch. Preferring that her good works remain anonymous, she worked for four months, fifteen hours a day, as a laundress in a dozen different establishments observing the deplorable conditions reporting them to the Consumer’s League of New York City. She joined the New York Women’s Trade Union League and backed the 1909 strike by putting up her own property for a $75,000 bond, declaring she would remain in court until the strike was settled. In 1911, while serving as an investigator for the State Bureau of Immigration, she worked on the Triangle Fire Investigation and did much work collecting evidence for the surviving workers. She also managed to find time to serve as a district leader of the New York Woman Suffrage Party. She was killed in a car accident at the age of 26 - cutting short a promising career of public service. She left $750,000 to Bryn Mawr which was used to found the Carola Woerishoffer Graduate Department of Social Economy and Social Research, the first professional school of its kind to be connected with a college or university.

Ida Tarbell contributed the 32-page Introduction to this memorial volume, which was later published in the "American Magazine," July 1912. In the Introduction Tarbell eulogizes her subject calling her actions part of the "Revolt of the Young Rich." The balance of the text is a series of vignettes from professors and staff who knew her. According to NAW, this text is the primary source of information for this extraordinary woman. NAW III, pp. 639-640. (9336)

First Edition. Blanck’s printing 2 with sheets bulking 7/16". 32 mo; 184pp, elaborately blind stamped blue cloth lettered in gilt front and spine; green coated endpapers, edges stained red; minor wear to tips and spine ends else very good. Illustrated by four steel engravings. These pieces on Thaxter’s beloved Isles of Shoals established her as a writer and continues to be one of her most sought after titles and certainly one of her best works. BAL 19848. (9342)

First Edition, one of 1004 copies. 12mo, 152pp; original green gilt- stamped cloth with author and title on front cover and spine, gilt design of drift weed with author’s name front cover; brown-coated endpapers, a.e.g. Decorated title page printed in black and red. Early ink gift inscription on front blank else a near fine copy, bright and fresh. The book includes "Poems for Children" which comprises about one-third of the book. BAL 19871. (9347)

First Edition, second printing. 8vo;126 pp; decorated green cloth stamped in gilt front, teg, trade binding design of stylized poppies within a triple rule by Sarah Wyman Whitman, a near fine copy with only a hint of age toning to pages. Title page in green, pink and yellow. Twelve full-page chromolithographs after watercolors by Childe Hassam with smaller decorations for chapter heads, title and half titles. This book is cited by the American bibliographer, Jacob Blanck, as "one of the most elaborate pieces of bookmaking of the period."

Celia Thaxter (1835-1895), poet and essayist, was raised in a lighthouse off the Maine/New Hampshire coast. Her family operated a hotel, Appledore, on the Isles of Shoals and, in later life Thaxter summered there, establishing one of the first and most important artistic salons in this country. She drew a wide circle of writers, artists, composers and musicians. A watercolorist herself, Thaxter particularly appreciated the brushwork and vivid palette of Childe Hassam, a summer regular at Appledore. Although know n as a poet - it is said she contributed more poetry to "The Atlantic Monthly" than any other woman poet, her essays on her justly-renowned garden qualify her as one of the best writers in that field. Called "literary watercolors" by one critic, these essays are perfectly complemented by the Hassam illuminations. "...as Thaxter cut and gathered her flowers, Hassam scattered them pictorially in little vignettes across the pages of AN ISLAND GARDEN." Margaret pinks, nasturtiums, pansies, sweet peas and others add their humble beauty to the splendor of Thaxter’s prose.

This volume is unquestionably a high spot of American publishing and is one of the most beautiful trade publications of the 19th century. The binding - probably Sarah Wyman Whitman’s greatest - is stunning and every bit as beautiful as any of the one-of-a-kind designer bindings being done in France by Marius Michel et al. The difference is, of course, that this binding is in cloth and stamped rather than in leather and hand-tooled.

Recent scholarship indicates that Thaxter’s good friend, Sarah Orne Jewett, played no small part in readying the manuscript for publication, as Thaxter was quite ill at this time and died shortly after the book was published. In all, the book represents a rare combination of creative talent in turn-of-the-century America. Grolier Club, EMERGING VOICES, pp. 69-70. The cover of this important exhibition catalogue reproduces the Sarah Wyman Whitman binding on AN ISLAND GARDEN. BAL 19923. NAW II, pp. 179-181. (9340)

First Edition of the author’s first book, inscribed by her on the front blank, "With cordial regard/from/Celia Thaxter. / Appledore Isles of Shoals / July 1873," and with two hand corrections by the poet, pp. 22-23. 8vo; 86pp; original green gilt stamped cloth, minor rubbing to tips and spine ends else a very good+, bright copy and quite unusual thus. BAL 19847. (9341)

First Edition. 4to; original gray cloth stamped in silver gilt with decorative trade binding of spider web with red flowers entwined in it, 106pp, including 25 black and white plates by the top artists of the day, including Childe Hassam, Kate Greenaway, Howard Pyle, Mrs. L.B. Humphrey, Joseph Pennell, et al. Minor wear and a bit of soiling to binding, else very good+. This precedes the Thaxter - Hassam collaboration of AN ISLAND GARDEN by three years. BAL 19915. (9343)

First Edition. 16mo; [1-9]10-322pp; brown blind and gilt-stamped cloth, corners bumped and spine ends worn; small hole on spine above title, good+.

Louisa Caroline Huggins Tuthill (1799-1879) a Connecticut-born author, was left a widow at age 25 with four young children to support. As was so often the case with women forced to be the family wage-earner, she turned to her pen, publishing her first book anonymously in 1827. The majority of her works were designed for a young audience. In particular, she offered advice on aesthetic and spiritual improvement as well as advice for those made uncertain of their roles by social change, mobility, and passing of traditional institutions. The three novellas contained in this volume were aimed at a young female audience and are certainly part of the "self-improvement" genre of books. The "Three Fields of Women’s Influence" are Society, Literature, and Religion - typical of that time.

Besides writing and editing over 30 volumes for the young, Tuthill gained additional renown as the author of HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES, 1848, the first history of architecture to be published in the United States. NAW III, pp. 487-8. Wright I, 2624. (9319)

First Edition, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in blue ink, "Friendly greetings, / Lilian Welsh." [1-x] [1] 2-167pp; original blue cloth, white label on spine printed in blue with title, author, and publisher; corners and spine ends slightly rubbed, label slightly darkened, pp. 52-53 and 118-119 discolored from news clippings - obituary and photo of Dr. Mary Sherwood (both present), about very good.

Lilian Welsh (1858-1938), physician, educator, and suffragist, obtained her M.D. in 1889. In 1892 she entered private practice in Baltimore with her partner, Dr. Mary Sherood, at a time when there was widespread prejudice against women doctors. In 1894, Welsh began a thirty-year association with the fledgling Women’s College of Baltimore - later Goucher College. She instituted a strong pre-med program and was later famed for the number of Goucher students who went on to Johns Hopkins Medical School. She ran a private charity clinic, again with her partner, Dr. Mary Sherwood, the Evening Dispensary for Working Women and Girls, and became a leader in city and state public health activities. An active suffragist, she marched in the famous March 3, 1913 Washington Suffrage parade organized by Alice Paul the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. There are two images in this book - one showing the lack of police control at the woman’s March 3 parade which led to violence done to the marchers by male onlookers and the other, in stark contrast to this first image, the March 4 Inaugural parade with strong police presence! Welsh makes her point! This autobiography is a key primary source for suffrage activities in Baltimore as well as the history of Goucher College and women in medicine. NAW III, pp. 567-8. Rossiter, WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN AMERICA, PP. 19, 70, 116, 307 (with photo). (9419)

First Edition, one of 400 copies only. 8vo; 142pp; gray decorated wrappers printed in white on blue label. In 1989, Professor Claudine Lesage, while doing research on Joseph Conrad (who had visited Polish friends in Hyeres when he first came to the Mediterranean), was shown an unsigned manuscript in English (although EW’s ex-libris was present) by the librarian at the Municipal Library in Hyeres. Lesage investigated further and found in the Lewis biography that Wharton did tour the Aegean in 1888 with Teddy and James Van Alen and "Mind" Fearn, American Minister to Greece. Lesage was able to determine the year of the cruise by a reference to the date of Easter in the manuscript. And, although unsigned, the manuscript is most definitely in the hand of Mrs. Wharton. Unlike the other posthumously published Wharton manuscript, FAST AND LOOSE (1977), there was no reference or indication that this account of the cruise existed. The text, written when she was 26, is, of course, her first travel book, a harbinger of ITALIAN VILLAS, IN MOROCCO, MOTOR-FLIGHT, etc. And, unlike FAST AND LOOSE, it is the work of a young woman — not a young girl. In fact, Mrs. Wharton, in 1888, really came into her own: towards the beginning of this several-month voyage, she learned she had inherited (from a distant uncle) enough money to make her a person of independent means. According to Lewis, she resumed her writing on returning to New York later in 1888. We know now — through publication of this manuscript — that she had not really abandoned her writing. She simply did not share it with anyone. Not in Garrison. (9174)

First Edition. 8vo; 151pp; + 40 page Methuen catalogue dated March 1905; original blue gilt-stamped cloth designed by Charles Ricketts, title and author above circle of bars through which a bird flies, spine edges rubbed, spotting to rear cover, and front edges, inscribed on front free endpaper by English author William Newbold to his friend Leon Belugou, French man of letters and editor of "Mercure de France" and "La Revue Blanche," a good+ copy. Mason 388.

Together with a later printing of the French edition (42nd edition) published by Mercure de France belonging to the same French man of letters and editor at "Mercure de France" with his initials on the front cover. (9451)