La Belle France.
London: Strahan and Co., 1868. First edition, presentation copy. A book of poetry and prose based on the author’s travels in France. With a frontispiece and eight plates. Spine darkened. Some soiling to endpapers. Bookplate (ca. 1903) to front pastedown. Author’s presentation inscription to front flyleaf, as well as a separate gift inscription (of Caroline Fletcher Smith, gifting this book to the South Place Ethical Society in 1902). Some dampstaining to edges of leaves. Faint marginal toning. A good copy of a book that is scarce in commerce, presented by the author “To Sarah Lewin, from her affectionate friend,” dated 1868. Publisher’s blue cloth boards stamped in gilt. . Top edge gilt. Neatly recased preserving original brown endpapers. Octavo. xxvi, [errata slip], 320 pp. Item #17295
Bessie Parkes-Belloc (1829 – 1925) was a writer, journalist, and women’s rights activist who advocated for women’s employment opportunities. Emily Faithfull, Victoria Press founder and Queen Victoria’s official printer, credited Parkes-Belloc as the inspiration for the Victoria Press: Parkes-Belloc had purchased and taught herself how to use a printing press, which Faithfull also used to learn how to print. The experience convinced Faithfull that printing and publishing were viable careers for women. Parkes-Belloc was also a friend of George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Adelaide Procter, Jessie Boucherett, Maria Rye, and Isa Craig. She was the mother of the writer and historian Hilaire Belloc (1870 – 1953). Along with women’s employment rights, Parkes-Belloc was also enthusiastic about education and property rights for married women. She wrote Remarks on the Education of Girls in 1854 and her Essays on Women’s Work in 1864. In 1855, Parkes-Belloc and Barbara Leigh Smith campaigned for the passage of a Married Women’s Property Bill. Their action was unsuccessful, but the effort finally culminated in the passage of the Married Women’s Property Act in 1874. Parkes-Belloc was also one of the founders of the English Woman’s Journal.
Sarah Lewin (1812 – 1898) was a writer for the English Woman’s Journal and the secretary of the Society for the Employment of Women. Lewin lived most of her life in a flat above the offices of the SEW on Berners Street, which makes it likely that this book remained there until passing to Caroline Fletcher Smith, secretary of the South Place Ethical Society. Smith presented this copy to the Ethical Society in 1902.
Price: $500.00