WOMEN from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

New York: The Macaulay Company, 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Moral turpitude-what is it? The Countess of Cathcart in her artistic characterization of Louise Harding, answers this vital question of the hour... A brilliant, passionate story of a daringly discreet social rebel"-the dust jacket. The book was adapted into a film directed by Maurice Elvey… Read more about this item

London: Women's Printing Society, 1909. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. One of the better-known British suffrage cookbooks, assembled by the Birmingham chapter of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) as a fundraiser. Suffragists from around the United Kingdom submitted recipes. The final section includes "Menus for Meals for Suffrage Workers" offered as "an attempt to cope… Read more about this item

San Antonio: Mexican American Cultural Center, 1985. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good. This book provides a "historical background to illuminate current struggles of Chicanas for the full expression of their human potential"-introduction. 115 pages. First edition (first printing). Very good or better in wrappers (paperback).

Philadelphia: William Steuart, 1766. First Edition. Good. Bound with (as usual) The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women...To Which Is Added, The Contents of the Second Blast and a Letter...to the People of Edinburgh, Anno 1571 by John Knox. The Oxford Dictionary of National (UK) Biography describes this book as "a dialogue… Read more about this item

Mexico: Ediciones de "América" Revista Antológica, 1950. First Edition. Good. An early book of poems (her third or fourth?), published in an edition of 300 copies. Castellanos was a major Mexican literary figure in the 20th century, part of the Generación de los 50. She died in 1974, at 49 years old, while serving as the… Read more about this item

Melbourne, Australia: Robt. S. Brain, Government Printer, 1889. Very good. Broadside printing the text of a petition submitted to the legislative assembly of the Victoria stating "that the exclusion of women from the franchise is both unjust to them and inimicable to the welfare of the state" and asking that "this condition of injustice under which they labour… Read more about this item

Boston: The Society, 1904. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. An early 20th century female professional in the biological sciences provides detailed descriptions of the invertebrate specimens of the Boston natural history museum. The author (1852-1938) worked under the zoologist Alpheus Hyatt for many years and was later the curator of the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, Massachusetts. … Read more about this item

Detroit: Randall, Photographer, 1881. Ephemera. Very good. A full-length cabinet card portrait of Sojourner Truth with the caption, "I sell the shadow to support the substance." This is one of Truth's last portraits, taken when she was in her eighties and purchased in bulk to sell at events, hence the caption. During the Civil War, Truth took the… Read more about this item

Boston: Published in Aid of the Festival and Bazaar, December 13-19, 1886. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. The first edition of the first American woman's suffrage movement cookbook, printed for sale during the woman suffrage bazaar held in Boston on six days in 1886. Harriet "Hattie" Burr, who was active in suffrage and other community causes,… Read more about this item

London: Hutchinson, 1916. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. A World War One book that simultaneously recruits women to work in the British munitions industry and explains their presence to a public skeptical of the appropriateness of women working in factories. The author, a successful novelist, argues that women shouldn't be given just two choices when it comes… Read more about this item

New York: Linden Press / Simon & Schuster, 1984. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near fine. In her first book since Against Our Will, her landmark study of rape, Susan Brownmiller addresses another subject of immense significance: the set of societal structures, esthetic ideals, and assigned 'characteristics' which governs the lives of half of America, and which goes by the… Read more about this item

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1865. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. An illustrated guide to sea animals with radial symmetry, written by Elizabeth Agassiz with illustrations by her step-son Alexander. Illustrated with lovely small reversed (white lines on black background) images. 155 pages. A near fine copy in the publisher's blue-green cloth binding.

Weaverville, CA: Journal Print, 1906. Ephemera. Fine. A promotional card, illustrated with a half-tone portrait, of an unsuccessful candidate for superintendent of schools for mountainous Trinity County in far northern California. This card most likely dates from before 1911, when women won the right to vote in California. Katherine "Kittie" or "Kitty" O'Neil was born in California… Read more about this item

Berkeley: Image Comics, 2015. First hardcover edition. Hardcover. Fine. A feminist science fiction satire, set on the penal planet where women who won't submit to the patriarchy are sent. This is the hardcover graphic novel issued for Local Comic Shop Day in November 2015, a month after the paperback original graphic novel came out. The series, originally… Read more about this item

New York: Pantheon Books, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A stand-alone graphic novel from the author of Persepolis. In this book, Satrapi imagines the women of her extended Iranian family sitting around drinking tea and talking about their relationships with men. The book was originally published in France. "As the afternoon progresses, these vibrant women… Read more about this item

New York: Dana, 1895. Ephemera. Very good. A head-and-shoulder's portrait of the novelist Amelia E. Barr (1831-1919), the author of some 80 books in the late 19th and early 20th century. Barr, née Huddleston, was born in Lancashire, England, and emigrated to the US in 1853. Her first novel was published in 1872. Image, roughly 4… Read more about this item

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 5 by 7-1/4 inches. 63 pages. First edition (stated). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket.

London: Jonathan Cape, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A stand-alone graphic novel from the author of Persepolis. In this book, Satrapi imagines the women of her extended Iranian family sitting around drinking tea and talking about their relationships with men. The book was originally published in France. "As the afternoon progresses, these vibrant women share… Read more about this item

Eureka, CA: Daily Humboldt Standard, 1890. First Edition. Good. The most detailed 19th century directory of Humboldt County, a remote region in far northwest California that at the time was only reachable by ship. This is also one of the only Western directories compiled and published by a woman. The first 126 pages are mostly devoted to… Read more about this item

Leslie, Fife: W. T. Turner, 1870. Ephemera. Near fine. A portrait of two unidentified women holding strands of yarn. They are wearing distinctive uniforms of thick gathered skirt over a second, stiff, horizontally pleated skirt; a tunic over a blouse, and a flat cloth head covering that seems to tie in a large bow around their necks. … Read more about this item