The Women of England, their Social Duties and Domestic Habits

London and Paris, Fisher, Son, & Co. [no date] [1838]. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 202 x 120 mms., pp. [9], 10 - 342, 2 [adverts], original ribbed cloth, with image in gilt of Queen Victoria on front cover; some slight wear to binding, but a very good copy. Sarah Stickney (1799 - 1872), the daughter of the Quaker farmer and his first wife, Esther Richardson, married the widower William Ellis (1794–1872), Congregational minister, missionary, and author on 23 May 1837. After her marriage, she always used her married name for her publications. Of an edition published in 1839 in New York, the journal Biblical Repository and Classical Review, stated, "This book is doubtless in the very first class of its kind. The reputation of the author is established for beauty of style, good sense, and purity and elevation of sentiment." In her preface, Ellis claims that previous books about women's behaviour, duties, moral orientation, etc. have been addressed to ladies, "while that estimate class of females who might be more specifically denominated women, and who yet enjoy the privilege of liberal education, with exemption from the pecuniary necessities of labour, are almost wholly overlooked." Her book is intended for them.