Some Unrecorded Letters of Caroline Norton, Coolidge, 1934, Signed
$175.00
Novelist and poet Caroline Norton experienced the oppressiveness of English family law firsthand. Married to the indolent and brutish George Norton, Caroline took up writing to supplement their income. The Sorrows of Rosalie was published in 1829 and received excellent reviews; within a decade, she was being hailed as the female Byron. Along with highly romanticized narrative poetry, she also published verse on social problems, including A Voice from the Factories (1836), an indictment of the exploitation of working-class children at the hands of greedy factory owners. Her first novels, The Wife and Woman’s Reward, were issued anonymously in 1835; heavily autobiographical, they address male abuse of domestic power. She left her husband that same year. Under English law, George automatically received custody of their children and refused Caroline access to them. In response, she lobbied her political allies and launched a war of words on the legal system; her efforts resulted in passage of the Infant Custody Bill in 1839, which granted custody of children under seven to the mother.
4to, brown decorated cloth over boards. 25pp. Shelf wear to tips and head and toe of spine. Spine has a chip mid-way down. Binding is secure. Signed to (illegible) from Dick and Bertha, 1934. Limited to 75 copies, and signed on rear endpaper by Bertha Coolidge. Printed by D.B. Updike, Merrymount Press in 1934.
Novelist and poet Caroline Norton experienced the oppressiveness of English family law firsthand. Married to the indolent and brutish George Norton, Caroline took up writing to supplement their income. The Sorrows of Rosalie was published in 1829 and received excellent reviews; within a decade, she was being hailed as the female Byron. Along with highly romanticized narrative poetry, she also published verse on social problems, including A Voice from the Factories (1836), an indictment of the exploitation of working-class children at the hands of greedy factory owners. Her first novels, The Wife and Woman’s Reward, were issued anonymously in 1835; heavily autobiographical, they address male abuse of domestic power. She left her husband that same year. Under English law, George automatically received custody of their children and refused Caroline access to them. In response, she lobbied her political allies and launched a war of words on the legal system; her efforts resulted in passage of the Infant Custody Bill in 1839, which granted custody of children under seven to the mother.
4to, brown decorated cloth over boards. 25pp. Shelf wear to tips and head and toe of spine. Spine has a chip mid-way down. Binding is secure. Signed to (illegible) from Dick and Bertha, 1934. Limited to 75 copies, and signed on rear endpaper by Bertha Coolidge. Printed by D.B. Updike, Merrymount Press in 1934.
Novelist and poet Caroline Norton experienced the oppressiveness of English family law firsthand. Married to the indolent and brutish George Norton, Caroline took up writing to supplement their income. The Sorrows of Rosalie was published in 1829 and received excellent reviews; within a decade, she was being hailed as the female Byron. Along with highly romanticized narrative poetry, she also published verse on social problems, including A Voice from the Factories (1836), an indictment of the exploitation of working-class children at the hands of greedy factory owners. Her first novels, The Wife and Woman’s Reward, were issued anonymously in 1835; heavily autobiographical, they address male abuse of domestic power. She left her husband that same year. Under English law, George automatically received custody of their children and refused Caroline access to them. In response, she lobbied her political allies and launched a war of words on the legal system; her efforts resulted in passage of the Infant Custody Bill in 1839, which granted custody of children under seven to the mother.
4to, brown decorated cloth over boards. 25pp. Shelf wear to tips and head and toe of spine. Spine has a chip mid-way down. Binding is secure. Signed to (illegible) from Dick and Bertha, 1934. Limited to 75 copies, and signed on rear endpaper by Bertha Coolidge. Printed by D.B. Updike, Merrymount Press in 1934.