Details
WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary (1759-1797). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman with strictures on political and moral subjects. London: for J. Johnson, 1792.
8o (230 x 142 mm). (Some occasional marginal browning, a few marginal stains.) Original blue boards, uncut (covers detached, lacking backstrip); blue cloth slipcase.
FIRST EDITION. Mary Wollstonecraft dedicated A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Talleyrand, and wrote to him "...that her main argument was 'built on this simple principle that, if woman be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge, for truth most be common to all'. The main part of her book was written in an equally plain and direct style, and it was this, as well as the idea of writing a book on the subject at all, which caused the outcry that ensued (PMM 242)." Although there was nothing particularly shocking in her writings, there was much critical reaction, with Horace Walpole describing Mary as a "hyena in petticoats," while Hannah More found the very title so ridiculous that she publicly expressed her intention never to read it. Windle A5a.
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FIRST EDITION. Mary Wollstonecraft dedicated A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Talleyrand, and wrote to him "...that her main argument was 'built on this simple principle that, if woman be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge, for truth most be common to all'. The main part of her book was written in an equally plain and direct style, and it was this, as well as the idea of writing a book on the subject at all, which caused the outcry that ensued (PMM 242)." Although there was nothing particularly shocking in her writings, there was much critical reaction, with Horace Walpole describing Mary as a "hyena in petticoats," while Hannah More found the very title so ridiculous that she publicly expressed her intention never to read it. Windle A5a.