Letters Concerning the Love of God, between the author of The Proposal to the Ladies and Mr. John Norris.

[Astell, Mary]; John Norris

Published by Printed by Richard Wilkin, London, 1695

About this Item

Contemporary panelled calf rebacked to style with gilt and morocco label to spine. All edges speckled red. Some wear and peeling to lower front corner. Measuring 170 x 110mm and collating [46], 312, [1]; bound without imprimatur leaf else complete with page 311 misnumbered as called for by ESTC. Library bookplates and deaccession marks to front and rear pastedowns and recto of title; early ownership signature of David Margaund to front endpaper and contemporary ownership signature of Elizabeth Hayell to title. Small hole to central title affecting two letters of text; title page reinforced along margins, with first twelve leaves of text repaired along outer margins with no loss to text. Light scattered foxing to preliminary and terminal leaves and occasional pencil annotations, else a surprisingly fresh and unmarked example. A scarce and important work, which constitutes the beginning of famed feminist Mary Astell's authorial career, ESTC reports copies at 15 U.S. libraries. It has appeared twice at auction (in 2008 and 1896). Mary Astell's feminism was born not out of a desire to be an activist, but because she wanted for herself and other women the ability to engage seriously in the life of the mind that was open to men. Her first published book, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694), publicly initiated her lifelong mission of improving women's education. But her private philosophical work predated this piece, emerging from a long-term epistolary debate with her contemporary John Norris. Norris' fascination with Astell's ideas and with her use of feminine perspective to logically question existing assumptions about spirituality would encourage her to write and publish her own feminist tract. Still a relatively unknown figure, Astell sent a letter to the established philosopher John Norris in 1693 challenging his position in Practical Discourses Upon Several Divine Subjects (1693) that "God is not only the Principal but the sole Object of Love.Because he is the only efficient Cause of our Pleasure." In it, she counter-argued that "Norris overlooks the fact that God is also the cause of our pain. Norris took her question seriously, and a year-long correspondence upon the themes of love and God followed. By 1694, when Norris suggested that the exchange should be made public, Astell was also a published author; her proto-feminist tract A Serious Proposal to the Ladies had appeared in print that year. In 1695, Astell and Norris' publishers combined to produce Letters Concerning the Love of God" (Barnes). Popular in its own time, it promoted Astell's reputation not only as a serious writer but as a complex critical thinker whose ability to debate deserved credit and attention from her contemporaries. Her input on the relationship between faith and reason reveal the importance of diversity in discussions affecting public policy and social behavior. The present work is an exceptional example of this. Though A Serious Proposal was her first printed tract, Letters is Astell's first work, and a cornerstone example of a woman not only publicly engaging in religious debate but also drawing on women's experiences of pain to extrapolate about spirituality. Seller Inventory # 5880

Bibliographic Details

Title: Letters Concerning the Love of God, between ...

Publisher: Printed by Richard Wilkin, London

Publication Date: 1695

Edition: First edition.