Women Wanted.
Inscribed to Theodore Dreiser
Daggett, Mabel Potter. Women Wanted. The story written in blood red letters on the horizon of the Great World War. New York: George H. Doran Company, (1918).
8vo.; orange cloth stamped in black; spine faded, covers slightly used. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition; some text most likely appeared in The Pictorial Review in 1917 (their earlier copyright notice appears on the verso of the title page).
A nice literary association copy, inscribed by Daggett to Theodore Dreiser: To Theodore Dreiser, the genius who taught me to write—with the heartfelt gratitude of Mabel Potter Daggett. Mabel Daggett (1871-1927), a writer and editor who trained under Dreiser at the Delineator, is mentioned once in his American diaries of 1902 to 1926, in the entry for Thursday, November 1, 1917:
…Call at Duffield’s because Mr. Laurie wants to see me. He’s not in. Go to Hearst’s. Meet Mabel Daggett in doorway. She tells me of her trip to England and France, the wretched condition of both countries. Endless one-armed, one-legged or foot-less or eye-less people. Rank and file afraid to talk for fear of spies. Thinks French and English as bad as Germans…
In Women Wanted, Daggett gives a first-person account of her travels to Europe on the eve of World War I as a female journalist. She describes the call for women in the workplace in various Allied countries and details the ways in which the lifestyle of European women, now earning their own money, has been revolutionized. Daggett concludes that the new status of women is “paradise regained,” and that it “may have been worth this war to be there.” She includes black and white illustrations of prominent European women crusading for social change and economic independence for women, such as the Duchess of Marlborough and Mrs. Pankhurst, as well as notable female professionals such as Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, England’s first woman physician.
Thomas Riggio, the editor of the Diaries, reports: “[Daggett] remained on friendly terms with Dreiser for years, often inviting him to social events with her and her husband.”
(#1114)
Print Inquire
