Evolution of Woman, The.
Inscribed
Gamble, Eliza Burt. The Evolution of Woman. An inquiry into the dogma of her inferiority to man. New York and London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894.
8vo.; discrete book store label on rear pastedown; dampstaining to top edge of final fifty leaves; green cloth, stamped in gilt; few spots; light wear to extremities.
First edition of Gamble’s inquiry into the plausible superiority of women over men. A presentation copy, inscribed on the front endpaper: Compliments of the/ Author/ Eliza Burt Gamble. Signed beneath, Mary E. Cushma.” Gamble concludes her preface with a mission statement:
[T]he object of this volume is to set forth the principal data brought forward by naturalists bearing on the subject of the origin and development of the two lines of sexual demarcation, and, by means of the facts observed by explorers among peoples in the various stages of development, to trace, as far as possible, the effect of such differentiation upon the individual, and upon the subsequent growth of human society. (p. ix)
Her argument is divided into three parts: The Theory of Evolution, Prehistoric Society, and Early Historic Society. In the first section Gamble discusses “Development of the Organism,” “The Origin of Sexual Differences,” “The Female Superior to the Male,” “The Development of the Social Instincts and the Moral Sense,” and concludes with “The Supremacy of the Male.” In the second section, she writes on “Method of Investigation,” “The Relations of the Sexes Among Early Mankind,” “The Gens—Status of Women Under Gentile Institutions,” and “The Origin of Marriage,” and ends with a chapter each on the theories of Herr Bachofen, J.F. McLennan, and John Lubbock. Her final section is devoted to “Early Historic Society: A Development of the Gens,” with four chapters on women in “Early Historic Times,” Ancient Sparta, Athens, and Rome.
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