Claims of the Country on American Females.
Columbus, Ohio: I. N. Whiting, 1842. First edition. Volume one discusses the roles of women in history, categorized primarily by the religious makeup of their societies: “Women and their station among the Hebrews,” “of the Ancient Greeks,” “of the Roman Commonwealth and Empire,” “in a savage and semi-civilized state of society,” “of Mohammedan countries,” “of Primitive Christianity,” and “of Protestant Christianity.” Volume two is devoted to the role of women in American society in the author’s day: “Female Teachers of America,” “Female Influence extended by the peculiarities in the Political and Social Relations of the United States,” “Characteristic Traits of American Females,” “Importance of Agricultural Pursuits to the Interests of America,” and “Female Influence on Society at Large.”. Some soiling and rubbing to spines. Pale peach endpapers. Twentieth-century bookplate (Richard Vammen Morgan) to front pastedown. Some foxing to leaves. Last gathering of volume two is a lower-quality paper stock, uniformly toned. Still a very good, tight set. Contemporary blindstamped brown cloth with gilt spine. Two volumes, twelvemo. [4, publisher’s ads], iv, 243, [1, errata]; iv, 245 pp. Item #16947
Margaret Coxe (1805 – 1855) was an Ohio-based women’s rights activist, didactic writer, and biographer. She wrote The Life of John Wycliffe, D.D., in which she emphasizes Wycliffe’s role in making the Bible accessible to women, writing that Wycliffe “laid it more open to the laity, and to women, who could read,” (p. 170). Her didactic works include The Young Lady’s Companion (1839) and Floral Emblems; or, Moral Sketches from Flowers (1846).
Coyle mistakenly identifies the present work as an updated appearance of Coxe’s Young Lady’s Companion, simply having “a variant [title] to intrigue a wider audience,” but they are actually two distinct works (Ohio Authors and their Books, pp. 138-9). Sabin 17287. Not in Krichmar.
Price: $500.00