Works by Women
CONNELL, Lena. Portraits of Ellen Terry.London : c.1909
Seventeen characterful photographic studies of the actress, presented as two folding albums. Six portraits show Terry as Nance Oldfield, one of her most popular roles, first performed in 1891 and revived for the 1909 women's suffrage play A Pageant of Great Women. The photographs were taken by WSPU activist Lena Connell.
Terry was a...Learn More
PANKHURST, Christabel. The Great Scourge and How to End It.London : 1913
First edition, with the gift inscription of suffragette Janie Terrero to her husband Manuel on the front pastedown: "Xmas 1913 from Janie". Originally published as a series of articles in The Suffragette, The Great Scourge is both an attack on sexual double standards and hypocrisy, and a vital text in the history of sexual health communication....Learn More
BESANT, Annie. An Autobiography.London : 1893
First edition, signed by the publisher on the front free endpaper, "With T. Fisher Unwin's kind regards and compts., Xmas 1893". Besant's autobiography covers her activities as a socialist, atheist, and supporter of Irish self-determination. Her key role in the Match Girl's Strike is also mentioned, with 2 plates showing the members of the...Learn More
MITCHELL, Margaret. Gone With the Wind.New York : 1936
First edition, in the first issue dust jacket. Mitchell's sole published novel met with immediate acclaim and record-breaking sales, winning her the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The film adaptation, starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, followed in 1939.
Due to their enduring but not uncontroversial popularity, both the...Learn More
FAITHFULL, Emily. Three Visits to America.Edinburgh : 1884
First edition of publisher and women's activist Emily Faithfull's (1835-1895) record of her lecture tours of America in which she presents her views on employment, education, and women's legal status, including suffrage. This an unusual association copy.
Presentation copy, inked inscription to half-title: "by Emily Faithfull. Gorton Hall....Learn More
MANSFIELD, Katherine. The Garden Party and Other Stories.London : 1922
First edition of the final collection of the author's stories published in her lifetime, rare in fine condition. After Mansfield's death the following year, Virginia Woolf remembered Mansfield for having "the only writing I have ever been jealous of... Probably we had something in common which I shall never find in anyone else" (Diary, vol. 2, p....Learn More
AUSTEN, Jane. Mansfield Park:London : 1814
First edition of Austen's third and longest novel. Begun in early 1811, around the same time as Sense and Sensibility was accepted for publication, Mansfield Park was published in May 1814 in an edition of 1,250 copies. The publisher John Murray later "expressed astonishment that so small an edition of such a work should have been sent into the...Learn More
JAFFREY, Phoebe. Darjeeling Ferns.Darjeeling, West Bengal : 1882
A superb and uncommon hortus siccus of ferns from West Bengal, compiled and mounted by Phoebe Jaffrey, wife of Andrew Thomas Jaffrey, the founding curator in 1878 of the Lloyd Botanic Gardens in Darjeeling. This copy has been copiously expanded by a later British amateur botanist, with a huge number of samples added both within and...Learn More
AUSTEN, Jane. Northanger Abbey: and Persuasion.London : 1818
First edition of Austen's final published work, pairing Northanger Abbey, probably the first full-length novel she wrote, with Persuasion, her last completed novel. Her brother Henry's biographical notice, dated 13 December 1817, is the first acknowledgement in print of Jane Austen as the author of her six novels.
Austen wrote Northanger...Learn More
NESBIT, Edith, & Hubert Bland, as Fabian Bland. The Prophet's Mantle.London : 1889
First hardback edition of Nesbit's first novel, co-authored by her husband. Written shortly after she joined the Fabian Society, the novel is about the early days of the socialist movement.
It "is indirectly informative about the Blands's current concerns and attitudes. Writing under pressure, they increasingly found themselves drawing...Learn More
CONNELL, Lena. Portrait of Mrs Despard.[London] : [c.1910]
A photographic postcard showing Charlotte Despard, captured by a pioneer of the field. Connell was the UK's first professional woman photographer to accept both sexes as clients. She employed only women in her studio, where her patrons included many leading suffrage activists. Her present subject, Despard, campaigned for women's rights, improved...Learn More
MAXSE, Hon. Mrs. Ivor. Votes for Women.London : 1908
First edition in pamphlet form, scarce. The author declared that the nature of the women's suffrage campaign counterproductively proved that "women are ignorant of the nature and functions of Government, and are therefore inadequate to the task of undertaking it" (p. 1). The article was first printed in the November 1908 issue of conservative...Learn More
PHILLIPS, Marion (ed.). Women and the Labour Party.London : [1918]
First edition, review copy, of a collection of essays discussing the approach of the Labour Party to issues particularly affecting women. Topics includes "The Woman Wage Earner", contributed by London County Council member and future Labour MP Arabella Susan Lawrence, "The Claims of Mothers and Children" by social activist Margaret Llewelyn...Learn More
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. A Bill to Remove the Electoral Disabilities of Women.London : 1872
A House of Commons Bill, scarce, proposing that "in all Acts relating to the qualification and registration of voters... wherever words occur which import the masculine gender, the same shall be held to include females". It was debated in Parliament on 1 May 18972, but was dismissed by 222 votes to 143.
The bill was brought in by a...Learn More
PANKHURST, Emmeline - CUMMINGS, Michael (illus.). Original drawing commenting on the removal of Emmeline Pankhurst's statue.[London] : 1955
Original ink cartoon, unpublished. Pankhurst's statue, bearing a displeased facial expression, is carried by Nigel Birch, who in 1955 was the Minister of Works in the Conservative Government. Cummings's illustration alludes to the plan by the Ministry of Works to move Pankhurst's statue away from Parliament, which was foiled by a Suffragette...Learn More
THOMAS, Helen. World Without End.London : 1931
First edition, first impression, notably scarce, especially in the dust jacket. This is the author's second volume of memoirs, following As It Was in 1926. Thomas wrote the two books in an attempt to lift herself out of depression following the death of her husband, the poet Edward Thomas, in 1917.
Her tender yet frank account of her...Learn More
HAMILTON, Cicely. A Pageant of Great Women.[London] : 1910
First edition of Hamilton's influential suffrage play celebrating women throughout history. A Pageant of Great Women was first performed at London's Scala Theatre on 10 November 1909 and was staged across Britain. The production featured actresses Ellen Terry, Charlotte Despard, and others as historic and symbolic figures such as St Hilda,...Learn More
BELMONT, Alva. Political Equality Association Side Plate.Burslem : 1913
Original side plate, commissioned by Alva Belmont, the society hostess turned suffragette who founded the Political Equality Association in 1908. The "Votes for Women" crockery was at several of her campaign initiatives, from glamourous events for socialites to affordable lunchrooms.
Alva Belmont (1853-1933) became involved in the American...Learn More
PANKHURST, Sylvia. Women's Social and Political Union saucers.Longton : [c.1909]
A set of saucers from the tea service designed for the WSPU by Sylvia Pankhurst. She first created the "Angel of Freedom" icon for the organization's exhibition at the Prince's Skating Rink in May 1909. It featured on various merchandise and the tea service used in the popular refreshment stalls, which was sold after the event's...Learn More
PANKHURST, Sylvia. Women's Social and Political Union badge.London : 1909-10
Original badge, after a design by Sylvia Pankhurst, the WSPU's "unofficial 'official' artist" (Harrison, p. 102). By 1909, the organization had realized that they could simultaneously promote themselves and raise money by selling branded items. The icon bears the slogan "Votes for Women" and shows a woman exiting prison gates, anticipating an...Learn More
