To mark World Book Day (7th March) and International Women’s Day (8th March), Archives and Special Collections is showcasing books from our holdings written by women, as well as highlighting some of the women who have links to Leicester and its University. The books shown here range in date from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first. How many have you read, and which one is your favourite?
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Priscilla Wakefield 1751 – 1832 wrote prolifically on subjects ranging from botany to feminism. Her books, which were extremely successful, helped support her family’s finances. She also worked to improve women’s access to education and maternity care. Shown here is a page from the seventh edition (out of eleven) of her Introduction to Botany, from 1816.
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Frankenstein is the most famous work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 1797 – 1851. However, as well as dedicating herself to publishing the work of her husband – the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (formerly, scandalously, her lover) – she wrote several other novels as well as travelogues and biographies. Recent scholarship has highlighted her politically radical views and sought to reclaim her status from that of merely ‘Percy Shelley’s wife.’
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Born in Nuneaton, not far from Leicester, George Eliot 1819 – 1880 wrote, like several women of her time, under a man’s name. Her real name was Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans. Her unconventional (for the time) lifestyle attracted much criticism and opprobrium: she was an avowed religious dissenter, and lived openly with her partner George Lewes, who was already married. Her writing, both fiction and non-fiction, grapples with contemporary politics, religious debates and women’s suffrage. This edition of Daniel Deronda, her last novel, is a cheap multi-volume edition designed to be popularly accessible.
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E[dith]. Nesbitt 1858 – 1924 was an early member of the Fabian Society, a left-wing socialist organisation dedicated to obtaining social democracy. Her marriage to Hubert Bland was turbulent, but they wrote prolifically together on socialism under the joint pseudonym ‘Fabian Bland.’ Today, however, she is remembered more for her children’s novels, and has been hailed as the inventor of children’s fantasy literature. The Phoenix and the Carpet is a prime example of this.
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Richmal Crompton Lamburn 1890 – 1969 wrote fiction for both adults and children, but is best known for her Just William stories. These centre on William Brown and his friends, known as ‘The Outlaws,’ and their middle-class escapades and misdemeanours. This edition of Still William has clearly been much-read, as it is missing its back cover and spine.
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Mary Swainson 1908 – 2008 studied educational psychology to doctorate level at Oxford. In 1948 she took up a lectureship in Educational Psychology and Geography Method at what was then University College Leicester. Over the next two decades she pioneered the development of a student counselling service, and in 1967 joined the new University of Leicester Health Service as Psychological Counsellor. Her autobiography, Spirit of Counsel, also reproduces some of her academic research papers. The library’s copy is inscribed To inspire counsellors for the future. Obstacles can be overcome with patience and determination – With best wishes Mary Swainson.
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Leicester’s very own Sue Townsend 1946 – 2014 is known worldwide for her best-selling Diaries of Adrian Mole. She learnt to read from the Just William books and William has been suggested as a model for Adrian. After her first marriage ended, she became a single mother of three young children, struggling to make ends meet; although her writing would later be extremely successful, she would say that she could never forget what it was like to be poor. The Sue Townsend archive is one of our largest and most popular collections.
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Esuantswia (Esua) Jane Goldsmith 1953 – studied at the University of Leicester and in 1975 became the first, and to date only, woman of colour to be elected to the presidency of the Student Union. Her career has focused on women’s rights and addressing inequality. Published in 2020, her memoir The Space Between Black and White explores her mixed-race heritage and in particular her Ghanaian roots. The library’s copy is inscribed To Leicester University Library, and all your wonderful readers. Where it all began… Esua (Jane) 2021.
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