Women's Suffrage Augusta Webster Signed Selections from the Verse of Augusta Webster, 1893

Webster, Augusta. Selections from the Verse of Augusta Webster, 1893, brings together poetry by a Victorian writer whose literary career accompanied sustained public advocacy for women's suffrage and education. Webster addressed women's political and social position in both poetry and prose, including A Woman Sold and Other Poems and her 1889 essay "Women's Suffrage: A Reply." Her political work extended beyond print: elected to the London School Board in 1879, she participated directly in the administration of public education at a time when elected office offered women one of their limited avenues into formal political life. This copy carries Webster's presentation inscription on the full title page: "With kind regards from Augusta Webster." Webster, Augusta. Selections from the Verse of Augusta Webster. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1893. First edition. Inscribed by the author on the full title page: "With kind regards from Augusta Webster." 211 pages. Original blue cloth boards with gilt title and decoration to spine; 6½ x 4½ inches. Early ownership signature to inside front cover. The selected poems draw from Webster's earlier publications, including A Woman Sold and Other Poems, and preserve within a late-career volume work by a poet who repeatedly wrote about women's social position. Her engagement with women's education was equally explicit in prose, including essays on university degrees and examinations for women. Published the year before Webster's death, the volume appeared after decades in which she had joined literary work to campaigns for women's political and educational rights. Her suffrage activity included seeking Christina Rossetti's support for the cause around 1878 and publishing a direct defense of women's suffrage in 1889; her election to the London School Board placed her within an institution where women could vote and hold office decades before obtaining the parliamentary franchise on equal terms with men. Slight sunning to spine and light foxing to endpapers; very good condition. Webster's signed inscription distinguishes this copy of a collection closely connected to both her literary career and her documented work for women's suffrage and education.…