Alexander, William. The History of Women, from the Earliest Antiquity, to the Present Time; Giving some Account of almost every interesting Particular concerning that Sex, among all Nations, ancient and modern... Dublin: Printed by J.A. Husband, For Messrs. S. Price, R. CrossÉ[et al.], 1779
Contemporary calf, gilt red morocco labels. , [10], xxii, 448, [22, index], [2, blank]; [4], 449, [1], [25, index], [3, blank] pp.
Small splits in spine, but generally a very good copy, tight and fresh. Light pencil annotations throughout by a former owner (late nineteenth-century). Includes the half-title to Volume I and the terminal blanks., William Alexander (bap. 1742?, d. 1788?) was a University of Edinburgh-educated medical doctor. The present work, which has sociological and anthropological overtones, is his best know. It Òdeserves to take a place among Enlightenment histories of civil society. Though Alexander clearly knew and was influenced by Montesquieu and the encyclopŽdistes, it was to contemporary Scottish historians such as John Millar, Lord Kames, and Gilbert Stuart that he owed his greatest debts. Like them, he attempted to place the history of women and gender roles firmly within the history of civil society, though he also perpetuated their disagreements and inconsistencies. The History is long, rambling, and inconsistent, and omits any scholarly references. In it, Alexander drew widely and indiscriminately upon biblical history, theological studies, classical and medieval histories, and travel literature to construct narratives of women's employment, marriage, child-rearing patterns, customs and ceremonies, and the status and public power of women. He explored the relative influences of nature, or biology, and education, or environment, in shaping the manners of women; the potential for the moral corruption of nations in the absence of female chastity; the relationship between the progress of ÔcivilizationÕ and the condition of women; and the distinctive characteristics of both ÔnorthernÕ and British women. On the whole Alexander was inclined to give little weight to the influence of Christianity in the improvement of the condition of women, and there is an anti-Catholic and anti-clerical tinge to much of his discussionÓ (D.N.B.). The History of Women went through three British editions in as many years. It was translated into French and German, and two American editions were produced.
$US1500
This item is listed on Bibliopoly by Michael R. Thompson Bookseller; click here for further details.