groundbreaking manifesto that the rights of man and of woman were one and the same thing. Her demand for “justice for one-half of the human race” was too revolutionary for her time, but she found a following among radicals and educated women, and succeeded in initiating a new regard for women as an important social force. Wollstonecraft preached that intellect would always govern, and she sought “to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonimous [ sic ] with epithets of weakness”. Octavo. Original blue paper-covered boards, paper spine label titled in manuscript “Rights of Woman”, edges uncut. Housed in a dark blue quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Engraved bookplate of Edwin B. Holden (1861–1906), distinguished American book collector and an early member of the Grolier Club, to front pastedown. Boards and free endpaper expertly reattached, cords stabilized, else an unsophisticated copy. Spine label chipped affecting two letters of title, damp staining to boards, faint foxing to contents. A very good copy. ¶ Goldsmiths’ 15366; Printing and the Mind of Man 242; Windle, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin , A5d. £25,000 [137762] 174 WOOLMAN, John. A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich. Dublin: printed by T. M. Bates, for R. M. Jackson, 1793 First edition of this Quaker tract preaching divine retribution for ungenerous hoarders of wealth. American anti-slavery campaigner John Woolman (1720–1772), was highly esteemed for his concern for animals, the poor, native Americans, and slaves; Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and G. M. Trevelyan all wrote favourably of him, and “next to Francis of Assisi, Woolman has become probably the most quoted religious spokesperson for animal concern” ( ODNB ). Duodecimo (138 × 87 mm). Near-contemporary sprinkled sheep, red morocco spine label. Contemporary ownership signature to front free endpaper. Bound without half-title. Library shelf label to spine and stamp to pastedown, inked notation to front free endpaper, a few pencilled lines in margins, stab-holes in gutter. Spine chipped at ends, front joint cracked but holding. A very good copy. ¶ ESTC T80774; Sabin 105210; Smith, J. Descriptive Catalogue of Friends’ Books , II, p. 960. £750 [128995]
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WOLLSTONECRAFT DEFENDS THE REVOLUTION First edition of each work, a highly interesting assemblage of three works relating to Burke’s controversial Reflections on the Revolution in France , also published in 1790, leading with Wollstonecraft’s powerful defence of republican values, preceding her Vindication of the Rights of Women by two years. Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) was the first of many replies disputing Burke’s conservative assumptions. “The tone was impatient, the arguments sketchy. But it was redeemed by its dominant emotion, a humanitarian sympathy for the poor, and a passionate contempt for the wilful blindness of the privileged to what kept their system going” (Tomalin, p. 95). Catherine Macaulay (1731–1791), historian and political polemicist, “also published an impassioned response to Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). This gave rise to a brief correspondence between her and Mary Wollstonecraft, in which both praised the other’s work” ( ODNB ). 3 works bound in 1 volume, octavo (203 × 122 mm). Recent sprinkled calf to style, spine ruled gilt, red morocco label. Without the half-titles to the second and third works and the final advert leaf to the first and third works. Binding fine, contents lightly toned, an attractive volume. ¶ Wollstonecraft: Windle 4a. Tomalin, The Life & Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, Penguin, 1992. £12,500 [110724] 173 WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1792 THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN FEMINISM, UNCUT IN THE ORIGINAL BOARDS First edition of the first great feminist treatise, in the original boards. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) argued in her
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Peter Harrington
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