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107 MAUD, Constance Elizabeth. No Surrender. London: Duckworth & Co., 1911 “a book which breathes the very spirit of the women’s movement” Scarce first edition of the author’s best-known work. Maud (1857–1929) became a member of the WSPU in 1908 and was also part of the Women Writers’ Suffrage League. Emily Wilding Davison reviewed it thus: “There is scarcely a notable incident of the militant campaign which is left untouched . . . It is a book which breathes the very spirit of the Women’s Movement” (quoted by Felgett). Recent critics have remarked on the significance of No Surrender outside of the “suffragette novel” genre, “a genre that has often been dismissed as documentary writing with a political purpose rather than fictional narrative with artistic value . . . what N o Surrender exquisitely achieves is a representation of women’s actual suffering at this time – from domestic violence, marital rape, custody disputes, adultery, alimony, and unjust legal practices – while giving voice to multiple women of the lower class who otherwise had no voice” (Moon, p. 183). Library Hub locates five copies (BL, Oxford, Cambridge, London Library, NLS), and WorldCat adds just four outside the UK – two in Canada (Alberta, Toronto), and one apiece in the US (Princeton) and Australia (Monash). It was republished for the first time in its centenary year by Persephone Books. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Contemporary ownership signature in ink to front free endpaper, “Beatrice. Eleanor. Morgan. Jan. 19. 14.” Spine cocked, ends and corners worn and bumped, lower edge of front cover cockled; contents generally clean, with occasional spotting, a few leaves creased at tips from reading, adhesive remnants to front pastedown from bookplate sometime removed: a very good copy. ¶ Lydia Fellgett, preface to No Surrender , 2011; Jina Moon, Domestic Violence in Victorian and Edwardian Fiction , 2016. £2,500 [147163]
is from the library of the bookseller Vicente Salvá y Pérez (1786–1849), whose catalogue entry for this copy states, “El bello retrato de Maria Estuarda . . . suele faltar á muchos ejemplares” (“The beautiful portrait of Mary Stuart is often missing from many copies”). Dedicated to Pope Urban VIII, the work blames the English Reformation and Henry VIII’s divorce from his Catholic and Spanish first wife Catherine of Aragon for the eventual beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was charged with treason for attempting to usurp the throne of Elizabeth I and reinstall Catholicism as the state religion. A tale frequently romanticized and retold, Mary’s execution in 1587 took place only 40 years prior to the publication of Corona tragica , and so was still in the living memory of many Spanish and English Catholics who resented her treatment at the hands of the Protestant Queen. Following the title poem is a short biographical notice on Mary Stuart and a collection of occasional verses. Lope de Vega (1562–1635) was the most prolific playwright and among the most celebrated writers of the Spanish Golden Age. For this work, he was awarded “a doctorate in theology of the Collegium Sapientiae and the cross of the Order of Malta, out of which came his proud use of the title Frey (‘Brother’)” ( Ency. Brit .). The last copy to appear at auction was sold by Swann Galleries in 1986. Small quarto (197 × 141 mm). Mid-19th-century sheep, spine lettered in gilt and ruled in gilt and black, floral gilt tooling in compartments, triple gilt fillets on sides enclosing supralibros of Biblioteca de Salvá incorporating initials of Vicente Salvá y Pérez, board edges ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges red. Woodcut plate depicting Mary Stuart by Jean de Courbes, occasional head- and tailpieces. Book label on front pastedown. Binding stripped but firm, wear to corners, superficial splits to inner hinges, sporadic foxing and occasional faint splash marks. A very good copy, infrequently found complete. ¶ Catálogo de la Biblioteca de Salvá 1029. £4,500 [155827]
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105 MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS – PASCHAL, Pierre de. Henrici II, Galliarum Regis, Elogium. Paris: Michel Vascosan, March 1560 A binding by Claude de Picques for Mary, Queen of Scots A binding plausibly made for Mary, Queen of Scots as Queen of France, from the royal bindery, most likely Claude de Picques or Gommar Estienne. The same centre- and cornerpieces feature on other Claude de Picques bindings from around this time; they appear together on BL c.48.c.2, an octavo with a 1560 Paris imprint. Copies of the folio version of this work (containing an engraving of Henri’s tomb, not included in the octavo edition) are recorded in fine bindings for presentation to other French nobles; copies were bound by Claude Picques with the French royal arms and the arms of François, duc de Guise and Anne de Montmorency ( French and Italian Collectors and their Bindings , no.20). The magnificent copy presented to Catherine de Médicis is in the Bibliothèque Nationale. In contrast to these other copies with notable provenance, it seems slightly odd that the daughter-in-law of Henri II should have received a copy in the smaller format rather than the larger format. Provenance: Mary, Queen of Scots, arms on binding, and listed in the inventory of her books at Holyrood House, 1578; George Campbell [--], signature on first leaf; [R. T. Hamilton
Bruce, of Glasgow and Dornoch, sale, Edinburgh, 3 December 1900]; William Beattie, of Glasgow, sale, Sotheby’s, November 1924, lot 509, £150. Four parts in one volume, in Latin, Italian, Spanish and French, octavo (205 × 123 mm). Covers of contemporary brown morocco probably by Claude de Picques with gilt arabesque centre- and cornerpieces and crowned M monogram gilt, flat spine gilt with M monogram, panels and spine laid down on a later binding with board edges gilt-tooled in period style, slits on covers for two pairs of ties. Housed in acetate chemise and late 19th-century brown morocco pull-off case. Woodcut initials, ruled in red throughout (faded). Latin section lacks title page (A1) and A8, staining, original spine slightly defective, tooling on panels flattened. ¶ USTC 72124 (listing two copies, in Aix-en-Provence and the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal); Library Hub locates three copies in the UK, no copy in the British Library. Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, volume 12: Scottish Libraries , S17.51, “Elogium Henrici 4º” (=S17.103, “Elogium Henrici secundi en 4 langues 4º” and S17.113). £22,500 [162406] 106 MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS – VEGA CARPIO, Lope Félix de. Corona tragica. Madrid: for Luis Sanchez’s widow at the expense of Alonso Perez, 1627 complete with the rarely seen woodcut portrait First edition of this scarce long poem on the life and death of Mary Stuart, here retaining the uncommon plate. This copy
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
LOUDER THAN WORDS
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