[Rarebooks] FS: NEW LISTINGS: WOMEN

[Norman Kane]

PENNA. RECEIPT BOOK, 1800-1805, OF REBECCAH STEPHENS.
Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pa.
Original leather-backed marbled boards, approx. 4  X  6-1/2 inches, rubbed.  About 3/4s of the pages are filled in with signed attestations of having received payment from Stephens, who was apparently in business, (hence the frequent phrase, “Rebeccah Stephens & Co.") Many of the payments are on behalf of a third named party, and are described as "on account." Rebeccah’s first name is given various spellings. Some  of her specified expenditures include: snuff;  raisins and rice {sounds like rice pudding} ; plastering; earthenware and glass; shoes; medicine; road tax; a partnership (mentioning the building of a stone house); county and poor rates (taxes); cutting wood & sawing; Godfrey's Cordial; peppermint; &c.  There is a wealth of local signatures, e.g., James McArthur, Joseph Longstreth, Wm. Longstreth, Saml. Longstreth, Jesse Thomson, Wm. Watkins, Benj. Parry, Jr., Richard C. Cresson, Chas. Stout, Wm. Lindsay, Burr Ridgway,  Thos. Dungan, Wm. A. Shaw, and on and on. A unique peek into the business affairs of a woman in a rural Pennsylvania township in the earliest years of the 19th Century.  $150.00

LOUNSBERY, G[RACE] CONSTANT.
AN ISEULT IDYLL AND OTHER POEMS.  London & N. Y.: John Lane, 1901.
First edition.  Original boards printed in silver, top edge gilt,  a nice copy.  Includes "Ode to Bacchus", "Sapphic Ode to Aphrodite", “Sapphics", &c.  For a very curious description of the private house production of one of her plays in N.Y. in 1913, see:  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00913FE385F13738DDDAF0A94D9405B838DF1D3  $70.00

WOLLSTONECRAFT, MARY.
LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY , AND DENMARK. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION.
Wilmington, Del.: Wilson & Johnson, 1796.
First U. S. edition.  Old leather, rubbed, light wear, a good copy. 218, [6] pages - penultimate page is advts, last page is a blank. (Additional advts not present, as is sometimes the case.) Her husband, Wm. Godwin, wrote: "If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book."  Its influence can be seen in the work of the  romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, who drew on its themes and its aesthetic. As in her other writings, it champions the liberation and education of women.  Much scarcer than the British edition - only 2 auction records in the last 35 years.  None on line.  $750.00

Trade discount, 10%.  Postpaid.   



THE AMERICANIST
(NORMAN KANE-ABAA EMERITUS)
113 CREEK'S EDGE, CHAPEL HILL, NC
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