Glimpses into Chinese Homes.

YATES, Elizabeth Upham.

Published by Boston: Joseph W. Hamilton, 1887

About this Item

First edition, inscribed by the author to a fellow Maine suffragist on the front free endpaper, "Mrs. Ann Greely, with kind regards, the author, Dec. 25 1890", with Greely's book label to front pastedown. This edition is now uncommon, especially inscribed, the present copy in notably attractive condition. The recipient, Ann Jarvis Greely (1831-1914), would have been known to Yates through their shared engagement in the suffrage lecture circuit. Greely was active in her local suffrage movement and organised a series of suffrage lectures and a "woman's rights" ball in Ellsworth in 1857, which included Susan B. Anthony as a speaker. From her mid-20s she was, like Yates, an avowed and outspoken temperance worker and was active in the anti-slavery movement. In 1851 she opened the Old Stand, a millinery shop on Main Street, thereby becoming one of the first recognized businesswomen of Maine. Yates (1857-1942) was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church and travelled to China as a missionary under the auspices of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society in 1880, staying for six years. Yates was inspired to reform in the US based on what she had learnt in China and "reflected in her book on Chinese women's freedoms in Peking, and their ability to excel equally with men when given access to education" (Risk, p. 157). She began lecturing for the temperance, suffrage, and abolition movements in the 1890s and became a leading state advocate, speaking at numerous national suffrage events. In 1920 she ran as the Democratic Party candidate for lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, one of the first women to run for any such position. Not in Robinson nor Theakstone; Shannon M. Risk, In Order to Establish Justice: The Nineteenth-Century Woman Suffrage Movements of Maine and New Brunswick, 1994. Octavo. Original pebble-grain brown cloth, titles to spine and front cover in gilt, elaborate decoration to front cover in black, plain endpapers. Spine very lightly sunned, touch of wear to spine ends and tips, inner front hinge starting, book block remaining firm, margins toned; a very good, bright, and attractive copy. Seller Inventory # 141614

Bibliographic Details

Title: Glimpses into Chinese Homes.

Publisher: Boston: Joseph W. Hamilton, 1887

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition