Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, The…Vols. I and II, with Index to Subjects (slim stapled volume).
Inscribed by Susan B. Anthony to her brother
(Anthony, Susan B.). Harper, Ida Husted. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many from Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years. Indianapolis and Kansas City: Bowen-Merrill Company, 1899 and 1898.
2 volumes; 8vo; frontispiece photograph of Anthony in each and many other photos of major suffrage leaders throughout; green buckram with elaborate gilt relief of Anthony on front covers; hinges barely starting; t.e.g.; covers scuffed at extremities.
(Together with)
Harper, Ida Husted. Index to Subjects. [Indianapolis and Kansas City: Bowen-Merrill Company, 1898–99].
8vo; pp. 1071 – 1110 (continuously paginated following “Index of Names” bound in Volume II); stapled self-wrappers; first leaf lightly tanned and edgeworn.
First editions of the complete biography. Krichmar 4442. Presentation copies, both tenderly inscribed by Anthony to her younger brother on Christmas Day in the year of publication: To Col. Daniel R. Anthony / Mrs. Anna Osborn Anthony / with Christmas greetings / from their affectionate sister / Susan B. Anthony / Rochester – NY, December 25, 1898 (Volume I) and To Daniel Read Anthony / with Christmas greetings / from his affectionate sister / Susan B. Anthony / Rochester – NY, December 25, 1898 (Volume II). The presence of the Index to Subjects continuously paginated to appear after volume II but not bound in with that text suggests that this was one of a few early sets sent to Anthony prior to publication.
One of seven children born to Daniel and Lucy Anthony and known to his family as “D.R.,” Daniel Read (b. Adams, Mass., August 22, 1824 – November 12, 1904) was an abolitionist and newspaper publisher. He was an early settler of Kansas in the 1850s as a member of the anti-slavery Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company and was appointed postmaster of the town of Leavenworth, Kansas, by President Lincoln in 1861. He was elected mayor in 1863 and by all reports, Daniel Anthony took pride in his oldest son’s ambitious career.
D.R. served as a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War and later became presiding officer of the Republican State Convention. He found his greatest success, however, as editor and publisher of several local newspapers. In the 1860s he established the Conservative and bought the Leavenworth Bulletin; his monopoly of the town’s newspapers was complete with his 1876 purchase of a third publication, the Commercial. D.R. used his position to wield great power and influence and is likely best remembered for his achievements in the newspaper industry. In 1865, when Kansas Republicans followed the national Republican Party in its efforts to eliminate from its platform the amendment to enfranchise women, there was a degree of ambiguity regarding D.R.’s support of the suffrage movement. The Leavenworth Bulletin, however, continued to back the cause.
D.R. and his sister Susan remained close despite their physical distance and demanding lives. He sent heartfelt regards before she set sail for Europe in 1883, wiring: “Sixty-three years have crowned you with honor and respect of the people of America, and with the love of your brothers and sisters” (Barry, Kathleen. Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist. New York: NYU, 1988; p. 276). Susan traveled to Leavenworth in 1904 after receiving word that her brother was ill; it was their last visit and he died a month after her departure. She and her sister Mary returned to Kansas for the funeral. Their brother’s career had left him quite comfortable and in addition to bequeathing $5,000 to the National-American Woman Suffrage Association (at Susan’s request), D.R. created a trust to pay Susan and Mary $1,200 annually for the rest of their lives.
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