TERRADE (Émile-Marien). — True Feminism: Studies of the Soul - Lot 275

TERRADE (Émile-Marien). — True Feminism: Studies of the Soul. Paris: Librairie Vve Ch. Poussielgue, 1906. In-12, approximately 19 cm, 335-[1] pp., brown half-shagreen with corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with fillets and small gilt metal fittings, gilt title, marbled paper covers, top likely gilt. Contemporary binding. Second edition. A work by Émile-Marien Terrade, devoted to several historical and literary female figures examined from a moral and Catholic perspective: Amélie de Vitrolles, Princess Louise de Condé, Louise de France and the Princess de Mac-Mahon, Countess Pauline de Beaumont, Chateaubriand and the Marquise de Vichet, the women in the Wars of the Vendée, and Julie Lavergne. The catalog of the Diocese of Luçon confirms that this second edition from 1906 consists of 335 pages and measures 19 cm. An interesting copy from the library of René de Laville-Montbazon, featuring this old handwritten note on the first endpaper: “In memory of René de Laville Montbazon—January 1, 1907.” Furthermore, on the reverse of the half-title page, there is a handwritten ownership note, the signature of which appears to read “A. Poussielgue.” The binding bears the gold-stamped initials “R. F.” at the bottom of the spine. The work is a fairly characteristic example of early 20th-century French literature addressing the “women’s issue,” here viewed from a Catholic and conservative perspective. This edition is rare: the institutional catalogs I have consulted list only a few copies. A fine copy in a period binding, despite some wear on the edges and corners and foxing, mainly on the first few leaves; the interior is otherwise generally clean.