Woman, her Education and Influence.
Reid, Mrs. Hugo [Marion]. Woman, her Education and Influence. With a General Introduction, by Mrs. C.M. Kirkland. “Can Man Be Free, and Woman Be a Slave?” With Numerous Illustrations. Stereotype Edition. New York: Fowlers and Wells, 1847.
8vo, 192pp; + 4pp ads; foxing throughout; original green cloth stamped in gilt and blind; spine a bit darkened, overall soiling; corners bumped.
First edition thus, with new title and illustrations. Mrs. Hugo Reid’s A Plea For Woman originally appeared in England and Scotland in 1843. An American edition was published in 1845 with an introduction by Mrs. Kirkland. In 1847 the New York firm of Fowlers and Wells printed a new edition of Mrs. Reid’s text under a new title, “Woman, her Education and Influence” and included illustrations. (Though Blanck does not record such a printing, the Library of Congress NAWSA collection includes an 1851 edition owned by Lucy Stone.)
Franklin calls this “an excellent book, though the plea is a modest one.” The author concedes the mental inferiority of women thus necessitating equal civil rights and suffrage to “guarantee that man’s supremacy will not be abused.” Caroline Kirkland (1801-1865) is best known as a writer of sketches of frontier life. Her largely autobiographical A New Home—Who’ll Follow? (1839) was the first narrative about the development of a western settlement. Returning to New York in 1843, she became the sole support of her family in 1846, making her living as a literary professional. NAW notes that her best work is “authoritative, wide-ranging cultural analysis and satire.” Certainly, her Introduction here is her clearest view of women’s rights. In Stacy Spencer’s article on Kirkland in Legacy, she notes that as in A New Home, Kirkland satirizes overused expressions and literary practices, although here she is more pointedly political in her aim. In particular, she mocks the terms “'woman’s sphere,' 'woman’s influence,' and 'woman’s mission,' as calculated to convince women that serving men is their only rightful function.” Spencer calls the introduction “Kirkland’s most forceful piece of writing.” An early and important statement on women’s rights, one, given Lucy Stone’s ownership of the book, known among early suffragists. Those printings issued in wrappers, of course, have survived in far fewer numbers.
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