Great Suffragists and Why - Modern Makers of History

Hill, Ethel, & Olga Fenton Shafer (editors), Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Millicent Garrett Fawcett et al

Edité par London Henry J. Drane, Limited. 1909, 1909

A propos de cet article

First edition. 237 pages + 2 of ads, with numerous full-page illustrations of the subjects included in the pagination. The book is firmly bound in dark green cloth, the boards with bevelled edges and a slightly inset decorative panel, showing the flags of six British women's suffrage organisations, held by a bird flying out of the setting sun, the flag of the W.S.P.U. prominently to the fore, a handy code to let prospective readers know that the book contained the militant as well as the more peaceable suffragists. The boards are slightly bumped, rubbed and marked. The text block is slightly foxed, marked and a little age toned. An excellent little book, surprisingly well produced using good quality paper and cloth, and almost certainly paid for or subsidised, as Drane was not a publisher prone to expend more than necessary on works published at his own risk. It contains an impassioned Preface by the editors making it clear that the book encompasses all those engaged in the struggle for women's suffrage, whether by peaceful or militant methods: "we cannot allow this occasion to pass without recording our sincere admiration at the cool courage displayed by the militant section of this great woman's army and their splendid leaders, and in doing so we feel we are not one whit detracting from the high value we attach to the more peaceful methods of the constitutionals". The editors choose to open with a piece on each of the three major leaders, Emmeline Pankhurst (Women's Social and Political Union), Millicent Fawcett (National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies) and Charlotte Despard (Women's Freedom League). The book then alternates between militant and peaceful suffragists, including Christabel Pankhurst, Annie Kenney, and Charlotte Carmichael Stopes. It is a fascinating snapshot of the British women's suffrage movement at a critical juncture, giving important and prescient first-hand contemporary accounts of the major actors, making reference to recent arrests and to Emmeline Pankhurst's famous speech at Bow Street Court in October 1908. It is notable that the word "suffragette" is avoided, having been coined as a derogatory term by a Daily Mail reporter in 1905, it had yet to be fully reclaimed by the W.S.P.U. as a moniker to be celebrated. The militant suffragists at this juncture were keen to demonstrate their femininity having been accused of being man-like in the press, and it is no surprise that Christabel Pankhurst, who was considered to be the originator of the militant tactics, is described as charming, passionate, graceful, elegant and pretty, before it is made clear that she is also fearless, determined and dauntless. It is quite an uncommon title in commerce and not especially plentiful in institutional holdings.

N° de réf. du vendeur 6885

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Great Suffragists and Why - Modern Makers of History
• Éditeur: London Henry J. Drane, Limited. 1909
• Date de parution: 1909
• Édition: Edition originale
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Women's suffrage