![[Item #48037] The Communion of Labour. A Second Lecture on the Social Employments of Women. WOMEN'S HISTORY, JAMESON Mrs, GREAT BRITAIN, Anna.](https://lornebair.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/48037.jpg?auto=webp&v=1597528045)
The Communion of Labour. A Second Lecture on the Social Employments of Women
London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1856. First Edition. 12mo (17cm). Flexible red cloth boards, lettered in gilt; [i-viii],[1]-156,24pp. Binding spotted and a bit rubbed at edges, but still a pretty copy, clean, tight and unmarked; with bookplate of Arthur Hoe to front pastedown.
A late but important work by the noted Anglo-Irish feminist, art historian, and traveller. The first portion of the lecture is taken up with a discussion of English laws regarding ownership of property after marriage, which Jameson characterizes as "cruel" and "unjust." The remainder of the work seeks to answer the question "whether there be not a possibility of [woman] sharing practically in the responsibilities of social as well as domestic life?" (p.3). Jameson goes on to enumerate a group of occupations suited to women in the fields of welfare and relief, including hospital-work, prison reform, reformatories, penitentiaries, and workhouses.
Perhaps most interesting is a lengthy section devoted to the education and training of women, which begins with the proposition: "There is no adequate provision for the practical education of the middle and lower classes of girls in this country...[and] no one in power thinks it worth while to treat this part of educational statics with any particular attention" (p.109). Jameson goes on to suggest a number of rather radical reforms to the British educational system, including co-educational schools, vocational training of young women for "active, and social, and responsible avocations;" and the creation of colleges for working women.
Infrequent in trade and, though not strictly rare, surprisingly (for a work by a well-known British author) narrowly held in American institutions – OCLC noting fewer than fifteen copies in North America, of which several would appear to be either circulating copies or mis-catalogued electronic resources.
Price: $600.00
