HIGGINSON, Thomas Wentworth. [Emily Duval].

Common Sense About Women.

London: W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co , 1882.

We're sorry, this item has sold.

Out of Stock Item Number: RRB-135100

Custom Clamshell Box

Hand made by the Harcourt Bindery. ~90 days

+$500

Ask a Question

Authenticity Guaranteed

Secure Shipping

English Suffragette Emily Duval's First Edition copy of Thomas Wentworth Higginson's Common Sense About Women

First edition of this classic work by one of leading American male advocates of woman's rights during the decade before the Civil War; English suffragette Emily Duval's copy with her ownership signature, read by her during her 1912 sentence in Winston Green Prison. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed by Duval on the half-title page, "E. D. Duval Winson Green Prison Birmingham 1912 March Emily D. Duval." English suffragette Emily Duval was a militant petitioner in the fight for women’s voting rights and was imprisoned several times. Four months into her six month sentence in Winston Green Prison for breaking two windows in Regent Street, Duval went on hunger strike and was force-fed over a two week period. She was force-fed several more times and released before her sentence was complete and sent to a nursing home to convalesce. Additionally signed by English atheist and freethought writer Joseph Mazzini Wheeler. In good condition. Lacking the rear board.

In 1872, the fight for women’s suffrage became a national movement in England with the formation of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage and later the more influential National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). In addition to England, women’s suffrage movements in Wales, Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom gained momentum. By 1906, the movements had begun to shift popular sentiments and a militant campaign began with the formation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Known as the suffragettes, its membership and policies were tightly controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia (although Sylvia was eventually expelled). The WSPU membership became known for civil disobedience and direct action. It heckled politicians, held demonstrations and marches, broke the law to force arrests, broke windows in prominent buildings, set fire to post boxes, committed night-time arson of unoccupied houses and churches, and—when imprisoned—went on hunger strike and endured force-feeding.