{"id":1579,"date":"2024-03-06T09:20:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T09:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:38:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:38:27","slug":"women-and-their-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/2024\/03\/06\/women-and-their-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Women and their books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To mark World Book Day (7th<\/sup> March) and International Women\u2019s Day (8th<\/sup> 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Priscilla Wakefield 1751 \u2013 1832 <\/strong>wrote prolifically on subjects ranging from botany to feminism. Her books, which were extremely successful, helped support her family\u2019s finances. She also worked to improve women\u2019s access to education and maternity care. Shown here is a page from the seventh edition (out of eleven) of her Introduction to Botany<\/em>, from 1816.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plate from Introduction to Botany <\/em>(1816), SCS 02829<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Frankenstein <\/em>is the most famous work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 1797 \u2013 1851<\/strong>. However, as well as dedicating herself to publishing the work of her husband \u2013 the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (formerly, scandalously, her lover) \u2013 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 \u2018Percy Shelley\u2019s wife.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frontispiece to Frankenstein<\/em> (1831), SCS 01395<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Born in Nuneaton, not far from Leicester, George Eliot 1819 \u2013 1880<\/strong> wrote, like several women of her time, under a man\u2019s 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\u2019s suffrage. This edition of Daniel Deronda<\/em>, her last novel, is a cheap multi-volume edition designed to be popularly accessible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First volume of Daniel Deronda<\/em> (1876), SCM 06304<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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E[dith]. Nesbitt 1858 \u2013 1924<\/strong> 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 \u2018Fabian Bland.\u2019 Today, however, she is remembered more for her children\u2019s novels, and has been hailed as the inventor of children\u2019s fantasy literature. The Phoenix and the Carpet <\/em>is a prime example of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Phoenix and the Carpet <\/em>(1923), SCS 05336<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Richmal Crompton Lamburn 1890 \u2013 1969 <\/strong>wrote fiction for both adults and children, but is best known for her Just William<\/em> stories. These centre on William Brown and his friends, known as \u2018The Outlaws,\u2019 and their middle-class escapades and misdemeanours. This edition of Still William<\/em> has clearly been much-read, as it is missing its back cover and spine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still William<\/em> (1925), SCS 05365<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Mary Swainson 1908 \u2013 2008 <\/strong>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<\/em>, also reproduces some of her academic research papers. The library\u2019s copy is inscribed To inspire counsellors for the future. Obstacles can be overcome with patience and determination \u2013 With best wishes Mary Swainson<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Handwritten inscription to Spirit of Counsel<\/em> (1977), 378.197 SWA <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Leicester\u2019s very own Sue Townsend 1946 \u2013 2014<\/strong> is known worldwide for her best-selling Diaries of Adrian Mole<\/em>. She learnt to read from the Just William <\/em>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<\/a> is one of our largest and most popular collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sue Townsend receiving a University of Leicester Distinguished Honorary Fellowship, 2008. \u00a9 University of Leicester<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Esuantswia (Esua) Jane Goldsmith 1953 \u2013 <\/strong>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\u2019s rights and addressing inequality. Published in 2020, her memoir The Space Between Black and White<\/em> 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\u2026 Esua (Jane) 2021<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Esua Jane Goldsmith in the Ripple<\/em> (University of Leicester Student Union magazine), 1975. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To mark World Book Day (7th March) and International Women\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26,39,25],"class_list":["post-1579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives-and-special-collections","tag-collection-highlights","tag-leicester","tag-rare-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1602,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions\/1602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}