Female Eunuch, The.
Inscribed
Greer, Germaine. The Female Eunuch. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1970.
8vo.; cranberry-colored cloth; spine stamped in gilt; dust-jacket; price-clipped.
First edition of Greer’s first, ground-breaking book, a polemic which established her as one of the most authoritative voices of the feminist movement; it was translated into 12 languages. A presentation copy, inscribed to Andrew Salkey: For Andrew, love, peace and hope from Germaine. Signed on the title page, Germaine Greer. Andrew Salkey was a writer who based his novels, stories and poetry in his native Jamaica. He collected contemporary paintings and novels and also taught writing for twenty years at Hampshire College.
In The Female Eunuch, Greer characterizes women as “castrates” when they conform to the traditional female roles dictated by society; as “plump,” “delicate” and “languorous” women, rather than independent women who embrace their sexuality. She suggests that only when actively working against that stereotype can a woman create a positive place for herself in society. Greer’s boisterous year-long tour to promote the book in the United States is the stuff of legend; however, after that publication she was largely ignored by readers and critics alike, instead the object of yellow press attention for her flamboyant private life, which she made quite public. Part of the London Underground, she co-founded a pornographic magazine.
Like many foundational texts of the post-war feminist movement, the press run for The Female Eunuch was modest, probably less than 2500: the publishers clearly did not expect a significant consumer response. First printings of the first edition are scarce; inscribed to other writers, they almost unheard of in commerce.
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