Wollstonecraft, Mary
Rare books by Mary Wollstonecraft, including first editions and finely bound copies.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) was a radical philosopher and feminist, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Her writing career began in 1786 when, to supplement her income, she wrote a booklet on female manners entitled Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. She also became associated with the rational dissenters, a progressive religious group, and began writing regularly for a literary review. Her first major publication was A Vindication of the Rights of Men, her 1790 response to Edmund Burke’s attack on the French Revolution. Appearing earlier than Paine’s similarly titled treatise, it was not only a defence of republicanism, but also challenged Burke’s gendered rhetoric. In 1792 Wollstonecraft expanded on her feminist ideals in her most important work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. This important tract argued that women were not naturally vapid or incapable, but made so by society. Instead she argued that women should be entitled to the same rights as men, and that education would assist them in their roles as wives and mothers. Wollstonecraft also wrote several novels dealing with these themes, and in 1796 published an important travel memoir based on a trip through Scandinavia, which strongly influenced the Romantic Movement.
WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792
£3,750
Second edition of the first great feminist treatise. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) argued in her groundbreaking manifesto, with its deliberate echo of Tom Paine, that the...
Octavo. Original buff backed blue boards, remnants of ink title to backstrip, uncut. Housed in blue, leather entry slipcase and chemise. Deckle edges a little rough,... Read more
WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary.
Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. 1796
£1,250
First edition. Her lover Gilbert Imlay had suffered the theft of a valuable cargo by the Norwegian captain of his ship, and in 1794 suggested to Wollstonecraft that she travel there...
Octavo. Recent half calf to style, black morocco label, marbled sides, old blue sprinkled edges. With the final advert leaf listing Wollstonecraft's books from Johnson... Read more
