[ Thomas, Ralph, compiler.]

Aggravating Ladies. Being a list of works published under the pseudonym of “a Lady,” with preliminary suggestions on the art of describing books bibliographically. By Olphar Hamst [pseud].

London: Bernard Quaritch, 1880. First edition. Some dampstaining to boards. Toning to endpapers. Very clean inside. A very good copy. Original cream-colored paper boards, neatly rebacked, with modern paper spine label. Octavo. 58 pp. Item #17167

After a perusal of my list I think every gentleman will agree with me that Ladies really are very aggravating. It would be curious to hear the exclamation of any lady who has written as ‘A lady,’ upon looking it over. She would probably exclaim that when she wrote as ‘A lady,’ she thought she was the only one, at all events one of the first… “…[T]hough these ladies do not like placing their names on their books, yet there is little desire to disguise the authorship, and enquiries are generally soon satisfied if a work has attained any success. They like to see themselves in print, so long as there is no infringement of the patent of modesty,” (p. 7).

The list of works makes up only twelve pages of the book, while the rest is dedicated to how to describe a book, catalogue, and identify the authors of anonymous publications, as well as conventions in formatting bibliography entries. Ralph Thomas compiled the present work from the list of anonymous women authors he could not identify while compiling his Handbook of Fictious Names of Authors of the Nineteenth Century (1868). The bibliography is also limited to nineteenth-century authors.

Price: $400.00