David and Anna Matson.
Duniway, Abigail Scott. David and Anna Matson. With Illustrations. New York: S.R. Wells and Co., 1876.
8vo.; a.e.g.; cinnamon-colored cloth decoratively stamped in black and gilt; lower cover stamped in blind.
First edition of Duniway’s second book, an epic romantic poem published in New York to coincide, in protest, with the United States Centennial. “On this occasion, suffragists rallied to decry the fact that America pretended to be a land of liberty when only "one-half the people" were free” (http://libweb.uoregon.edu/exhibits/archive/feminist-voices/damata1a.html).
Accordingly, it is peppered throughout with comments on women’s rights; for example:
Good woman, your poor hands are tied.
The courts of law ne’er open wide
Enough to grant such as you
The power that you aspire unto.
With a dedicatory poem to Whittier, and a prefatory poem to readers. This volume bears an elaborately decorated and loving inscription on the first blank, in pencil; the names are difficult to read, but we believe it reads, “To Miss Lillie Barrett with regards Warren Davis July 12, 1877.”
(#6980)
Print Inquire
