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This British first edition is an author s presentation copy, inscribed, signed, and dated in the year of publication by Britain s first female Member of Parliament, Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess Astor (1879-1964). Astor inscribed the book on the front free endpaper recto in eight lines "To | Ms. Wilson | Who worked so hard…" and signed "Nancy Astor | Dec 1923". Laid into the book is Astor s stationery postcard, printed with her name and address, bearing a second Astor signature preceding her holograph presentation of the book, which she calls "a poor return for yr. splendid work". This inscribed presentation copy is in very good condition. The orange cloth binding is square and tight with little wear, though a bit soiled and lightly sunned. The contents are clean, modestly age-toned but retaining a crisp feel with no previous owner marks and no spotting. The endpapers show offsetting from the pastedown glue, the front free endpaper offsetting differential owing to Astor s laid-in presentation postcard. The postcard, printed at the head "From VISCOUNTESS ASTOR, Cliveden, TAPLOW." is in near fine condition, the left edge showing minor offsetting from the pastedown glue.Born Nancy Langhorne in Danville, Virginia, Nancy Astor improbably became both a Viscountess and Britain s first female Member of Parliament. After a disastrous early marriage, Nancy moved to England and "found a much more suitable match in Waldorf Astor" (1879-1952). "Nancy Astor became something of a national institution, known for her wit, her willingness to break social barriers and traditions, and her blunt outspokenness…" She made history in 1919, when her husband, then a Member of Parliament, succeeded to his father s viscountcy and Nancy became "a stop-gap candidate" in the by-election. "In a three-cornered contest she retained 51 per cent of the vote and was elected with a majority of 5000" and took her seat in the House of Commons on 1 December 1919. No "stop-gap" after all, Astor served from 1919-1945.While we do not know specifically what precipitated this gift and inscription of this presentation copy, it occurred during her heady first few years as a Member of Parliament, when "As many as 2000 women wrote to her each week a sign that they regarded her as their special representative." In 1922, Astor came to the United States "to take part in the Pan-American Women s Convention in Baltimore." As she states in her Foreword, "this one engagement grew into a very strenuous month s tour" during which Astor made "about forty speeches." The title self-explanatory, My Two Countries is "compiled from speeches made by Lady Astor when in America and directly after her return to England."References: ODNB; Korda, Hero; NYT review of My Two Countries, 25 March 1923.
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