The Unwelcome Child; or, the Crime of an Undesigned and Undesired Maternity
Boston: Colby & Rich, 1876. Eighth edition. 19x12cm, [3], 119pp. Original blind ruled cloth lettered in gilt. Some neat marginal highlighting in pencil throughout, owner's inscription and Essex Institute plate on front endpapers. Touch of wear at spine ends and corners else nearly fine.
Second of two published works arguing for the sexual rights of married women by abolitionist and feminist, Henry Clarke Wright (1797-1870). Needless to say, Clarke was considered quite radical for his ideas presented in these books. He argued women should have the right to choose to be subject to maternity and that man, imposing maternity on his wife, is "the greatest outrage one human being can perpetrate on another." In that vein, Wright also blamed the rise in abortions among married women on "selfishly sensual husbands."
An important and uncommon published work from a man arguing for women's rights in the mid 19th century, and seemingly scarce in the trade. Item #5460
Price: $250.00