Bloomer Amelia Editor (1 results)
More imagesPublished by The Lily, Seneca Falls, NY, 1853
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
Contact seller5-star sellerMay 1, 1853 issue. Vol. 5. No. 9. 18" x 12" newspaper consisting of four pages printed on a single bifolium. Very Good, with toning, old folds, tears, edges crumpled. Rare. The Lily was the first American newspaper edited and published by a woman. Founded in 1849 by Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894) as a temperance publication, it soon… began advocating less restrictive fashions for women (the "bloomers"). By 1853, it was working more overtly for women's rights. Its subscription pitch pledges to "labor zealously and earnestly for the emancipation of woman from the crushing evils of Intemperance--from the cruel enactments of unjust laws made without her consent--from the destructive influences of Custom and Fashion . . . and for her elevation to her true position in society of perfect and entire equality." Pieces in this issue of The Lily include an article entitled, "The Skeleton on the Hearth," critical of our culture's tolerance of the domestic abuse of women at the hands of their husbands. The next piece is a story called "Dependence; or, What Made one Woman Meanly Penurious," which dramatizes the trickle-down effect of a husband's financial restrictions, pressure, and expectations on his wife. Bloomer makes mention of seamstresses on strike for higher wages in Cincinnati, notes on the meetings of various temperance societies, and letters to the editor. The back page contains some advertisements, including the following: "Book for 'Bloomers!!!' Which should not only be in the hands of every advocate and wearer of the new costume, but of every lover of truth and progress.-- The reasons for a change in dress are plainly and concisely given, while objections to it are fully considered and obviated.".
