Appeal of One Half the Human Race, Women, Against the Pretensions of the Other Half, Men, to Retain them in Political, and Thence in Civil and Domestic, Slavery; in Reply to a Paragraph of Mr. Mill's

£6,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A milestone in the history of feminism and ‘one of the classics of early nineteenth-century feminist literature’ (ODNB), described as ’the first detailed statement of socialist feminism’ (Dolores Dooley) - an unsophisticated copy, uncut in the original boards, rare as such. The Appeal was a collaboration between the socialist economist William Thompson (1775-1833) and philosopher Anna Wheeler (1785?–1848), who acted as a silent contributor; Wheeler’s contribution to the writing is acknowledged in Thompson’s ‘Introductory Letter to Mrs Wheeler’ which opens the text. The authors, both of Irish descent, were closely associated with the co-operative movement and deeply influenced by the utopian socialism of Henri de Saint-Simon and the communitarianism of Robert Owen and Charles Fourier. The impetus to produce the treatise had been provided in part as ‘a challenge to utilitarians who looked for universal happiness but excluded women, half the human race’ (ODNB). Thompson and Wheeler particularly took aim at James Mill, father of John Stuart Mill, for his rejection of political rights for women in his famous Article on Government in the Encyclopedia Britannica. ‘Mill, in less than a sentence, had dismissed women’s rights as unnecessary, since their interests were represented or “covered” by their husbands or fathers’ (Margaret McFadden, p. 94). ‘The book champions not just political, but also civil rights for women: equitable laws, educational opportunities, reform of marriage cus

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