on economics, this book gave its author an international reputation as prophet and reformer” and was a major catalyst of the Progressive Era (Grolier). George became the nucleus of many organisations, including the Home Colonization Society, founded by Blackwell. She and Barry attended a “Henry George meeting” at St James Hall in London on 9 January 1884. The following day Barry wrote in her diary: “The meeting was enthusiastic with just enough dissent to make it spicy. I had the front middle seat and heard every word of all the speeches. Cheer upon cheer greeted George before and after the speech” (quoted in Boyd, p. 243). This copy is a testament to Blackwell’s sustained critical study of Progress and Poverty . There are approximately 500 individual marginal markers and annotations, ranging from simple lines and crosses, question and exclamation marks, and underlining, to textual corrections, brief notes, and lengthier commentary, such as Blackwell’s reflection on land ownership on page 311. Her marginalia are heaviest in the chapters on the laws of interest, on wages, and on population. Blackwell’s brother George was especially critical of the economic basis of her ideas, so it is particularly interesting to see her engaging with the technical aspects. Blackwell’s admiration for the author is evident throughout, though she does not hesitate to point out the flaws, as she sees them, in his arguments. She rebukes him for non sequiturs, exaggerations, and for not giving “sufficient weight” to alternative causes of poverty such as taxation (p. 253). Her comments are frequently blunt, and her final act is to sternly cross out the religious meditation from Plutarch with which George concludes the work. Blackwell and Barry received this copy, a later edition, in the year of publication from Zoe Dana Underhill (1847–1934), a family friend and writer who was the same age as Barry, and confidant to both. Her father, Charles Anderson Dana (1819– 1897), began his journalism career working for publications devoted to social reform; he was a trustee of Blackwell’s New York Dispensary and a member of its executive committee. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, sides panelled in blind, floral-patterned endpapers. Publisher’s ads bound at front and rear. Couple of faint marks to slightly rubbed binding, spine darkened, ends bumped and a little frayed, tiny crease at lower outer corners of pp. 169–90, annotated throughout in pencil (see note). A very good copy. ¶ Grolier American 100, 81; see Mattioli 1418; not in Einaudi. Julia Boyd, The Excellent Doctor Blackwell: The Life of the First Woman Physician , 2005; Columbia University Libraries, “Elizabeth Blackwell Letters, 1850–1884” finding aid, accessible online; Henry William Spiegel, The Growth of Economic Thought , 1991. £25,000 [161016]
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17 BLACKWELL, Elizabeth (her copy) – GEORGE, Henry. Progress and Poverty. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1882 engaging with one of her formative influences Blackwell’s extensively annotated copy, offering unique insight into her engagement with this landmark socio-economic text during her most committed period of reform activity. This copy was presented to Blackwell and her adopted daughter by their close friend Zoe Dana Underhill, and is inscribed in Blackwell’s hand on the half-title: “Dr E. Blackwell. Rock House. Hastings”. Blackwell and her adopted daughter Katharine “Kitty” Barry had settled there permanently in 1879; their joint bookplate is on the front pastedown. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) overcame considerable adversity to become the first woman to earn a medical degree in the US; her graduation in January 1849 garnered international press coverage. She received additional training in Europe before returning to America where she, her sister Emily, and Marie Zakrzewska founded the New York Dispensary for Poor Women and Children (later the New York Infirmary for Women). In 1854 Blackwell adopted Kitty Barry (1848–1936), an Irish orphan who became her lifelong companion and secretary. They moved to England in 1869, where Blackwell established a private practice in London and cofounded the London School of Medicine for Women with Sophia Jex-Blake. Blackwell’s medical career was rooted in her indignation over gender and social inequalities. For her, “medicine was not an end in itself but a tool for fighting social injustice. By making medicine a more acceptable profession for women, emphasizing the importance of personal hygiene, crusading for moral reform, and attempting to combat Victorian inequities, Blackwell assumed an important place in social history” (Ogilvie & Harvey). It is entirely fitting, then, that “another strong influence [on Blackwell] at this time was Henry George, whose P rogress and Poverty had appeared in 1879” (Sahli, p. 378). “The most influential of American works
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18 BLACKWOOD, Hermione & Victoria; Nelly Wyndham; Miss Sutcliffe. Typescript journal of a mountaineering holiday in Switzerland. Switzerland, August–September 1893 an early female foray into mountaineering A wonderfully engaging travelogue of a two-month mountaineering journey in the Swiss Alps by four spirited women, enriched by humorous sketches and attractive photographs of alpine landscapes. The quartet of travellers consists of Lady Hermione Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, her sister Victoria, Nelly Wyndham, and Miss Sutcliffe. The writing appears to have been shared between the four women as each of them is mentioned in the journal; the same applies to the splendid drawings, executed in different hands. They were guided by the Wilson brothers, both local clergymen. It quickly became apparent that the women’s attire was entirely inadequate, and the Wilsons took it upon themselves to apply nails to the women’s boots. “‘Just fit to cross a London street with’! was the verdict ultimately pronounced by the vicar” (p. 13). On an outing to the village of Belalp the women met the physicist and mountaineer, John Tyndall (1820–1893), “a most delightful old man, who said he had only one injunction to give the young ladies on the expedition, and that was to drink a bottle of champagne on the top of the mountain” (p. 22). The Blackwood sisters went on to be great forces for the betterment of women’s health. Lady Hermione Hamilton- Temple-Blackwood (1869–1960) trained as a Queen Victoria’s
nurse in London, worked as a district nurse in Ireland, and was a qualified midwife and president of the Ulster branch of the Irish Nurses’ Association. She served in France during the First World War and was awarded the Medaille de Reconnaissance Française for her services. Her sister, Lady Victoria Hamilton- Temple-Blackwood, later Lady Plunket (1873–1968), married William Plunket in 1894. Shortly thereafter the couple moved to New Zealand, where Victoria “promoted the theories and methodologies around infant and maternal public health measures of the New Zealand medical doctor Truby King, who in May 1907 had established his Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children” (ibid.). Nelly Wyndham and Miss Sutcliffe remain stubbornly elusive. In the mid-19th century, the taste for mountaineering rapidly developed as a great stimulus was given to it by the foundation of the various Alpine clubs. The world’s first mountaineering society, The Alpine Club, was founded in London in 1857, but it was only in 1907 that The Ladies’ Alpine Club was founded in London, as the first mountaineering club for women. Quarto (250 × 195 mm). Contemporary red half sheep, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands, marbled boards, top edge gilt, 58 typewritten leaves, rectos only, numbered. With 4 mounted photographs of alpine landscapes including the Matterhorn and Zermatt (2 attributed on the mount to one “Mr. Duncan”), mounted print of Rieder Furka, and 15 pen sketches throughout, some hand coloured. Minor wear to extremities, occasional staining or offsetting, blank leaf at centre with slight loss. A very good copy. £2,250 [161746]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
LOUDER THAN WORDS
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