THE WIVES OF ENGLAND, THEIR RELATIVE DUTIES, DOMESTIC INFLUENCE, & SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS (Dedicated, by permission, to the Queen)

First impression of the true first edition. Undated. Published 1843. Contemporaneous ownership name and date in sepia fountain pen to the second front free endpaper - first plain endpaper: 'Mrs Thompson April 1843'. (Book bought new by the owner when it was first published). ***Six-page preface to the fore by the author, Rose Hill, March 1843, as called for. ***Dedication: 'Dedicated to Her Majesty, The Queen, in whose exalted position the social virtues of domestic life present the brightest example to her countrywomen, and the surest presage of her empire's glory' this volume is gratefully inscribed by Her Majesty's most obedient, and devoted servant, the author'. ***Very good in full leather brown gilt tooled boards - spine and boards are ornately gilt tooled and bordered, with blind-tooled borders including inside edges and outer edges of boards. Gilt titles to black leather label to second compartment of spine. Attractive colour marbled front and rear free endpapers and pastedowns. Contemporaneous, tiny ownership name and date: 'Mrs Thompson April 1843' in sepia fountain pen to the second free endpaper. Contemporaneous very small light soft pencil short marks to margins of pages and a few underlinings and small note (can be easily erased if wished - perhaps by a young woman of the period married, or about to be married who purchased the book (if the pencil marks are in the same hand), of interest to social historians. Boards very slightly rubbed. Corners of boards slightly rubbed. Pages clean. Spine tight. Decorative gilt bright. ***198 mm x 124mm. ix prelim pages including six-page preface by the author, Rose Hill dated March 1843 plus contents plus 370 pages including index to rear. ***Chapters: I. Thoughts before Marriage; II. The First Year of Married Life; III. Characteristics of Men; IV. Behaviour to Husbands; V. Confidence and Truth; VI. The Love of Married Life; VII. Trials of Married Life; VIII. Position in Society; IX. Domestic Management; X. Order, Justice, and Benevolence; XI. Treatment of Servants and Dependents; XII. Social Influence. ***'Women, too, are often remarkably quick-sighted to the minor shades of good and evil; and they are thus sometimes enabled to detect a lurking tendency to what is wrong, before the mind of man is awakened to suspicion. Even in business, then, and in all affairs in which men are most liable to be deluded by self-interest, and by the prevailing customs of the world, and thus are too frequently betrayed into transactions at variance with the spirit, if not with the letter, of the law of just and honorable dealing---' (Quote from chapter VII. Trials of Married Life paged 185-6) ***First impression of the true first edition, extremely hard to find in such nice, complete condition, especially in original elaborate gilt decorative full leather boards. Of interest to social historians and academics, and collectors of antiquarian first edition titles on social history and the position of women in society. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.…