New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1931. Hardcover. "The story narrated in the following pages is not a story of merely extraordinary and exceptional episodes in the history of the Sisters of Mercy, but rather it gives a glimpse into the normal, the usual, in teh life of these devoted women" (introduction). Ex-library with call number sticker to spine and pocket to rear endpaper. Bound in the original dark blue cloth boards with gilt title to spine and front cover. Frontispiece and several illustrations. Clean. Chipping and tears to edges of some pages (where they were opened poorly). Split to front after first free endpaper. 281 pages. REL/070820. Very Good. More

Kingston, NY: Marueen Cummins, 2023. Hardcover. One of 30 copies. Foetus Envy is a grim and satirical look at the present state of reproductive rights in this country. Conceived of and produced by Cummins, with typographical assistance from Kathleen McMillan, the book imagines an alarming new mental illness, “Foetus Envy,” which turns otherwise cheerful, angelic, and biologically fit wives into “Resistant Mothers,” women who do not wish to procreate and stubbornly refuse to accept the naturally superior powers, privileges, and legal protections of their unborn offspring. Cummins references language from Aeschylus to fugitive slave laws to faux scientific texts to locate our present moment within a long history of reproductive control and coercion. The book is written in the style of eugenics texts published in the early-to-mid twentieth century by the now-infamous Eugenics Publishing Company. Cummins’s primary inspiration, from which she based her images, is the 1919 text, Sane Sex Life and Sane Sex Living, which reads more like a sex manual for men than the guide for married couples that it purports to be. In the quotes below from Sane Sex Life, so eerily like phrases heard on the Fox News channel, it’s not difficult to see the relationship between the eugenics movement of a century ago and the contemporary Christian right: No two normal men can make a home! No two normal women can make a home! It takes a man and a woman to make a home! It takes father, mother and children to make the most perfect home. Make up your minds to have a most perfect home and do your utmost to reach that goal! ….all sane and intelligent men and women agree that anything even approaching infanticide is nothing short of a crime, and that abortion, except for the purpose of saving the life of the mother, is practically murder.  In her re-created eugenics text, Cummins mimics the badgering, preachy style of Sane Sex Living, while making liberal use of “alternative facts” and sanctimonious, moralizing language. Similarly, the artist plays with her imagery: the Caduceus logo on the title page is made up of entwining sperm, not snakes; the pattern on the slipcase, which appears to depict sun rays, is, on closer inspection, a swarm of sperm rushing to impregnate an ovum. While these surface elements of Foetus Envy are playful enough, the mood of the book grows increasingly grave, culminating in one final, terrifying image, of a woman entrapped within a womb, the ultimate example of a Ro(l)e Reversal. Foetus Envy was set in Bodoni Roman and printed letterpress onto Surface Gampi paper. Over one hundred silkscreen runs were required to print the accompanying images. Bound in faux leather with a gold-stamped title. The book is housed in a handsome cloth-covered slipcase. Size: 9.5 x 7 x 1 inches. 35 pages. A note from Maureen about the book and proper handling: “Two things to note about the book: the paper that I used, Surface Gampi, handmade and imported from Japan, contains tiny bits of fiber;  these are natural and not imperfections in any way. Also, for ease of reading, and so that the accordion book lays flat, you may need to shift the text block on the right to meet the pages on the left. The final page is meant to remain under the flap until viewed.”. Fine. More

Cornwells Heights, PA: Mother Katharine Drexel Guild, 1972. Paperback. Signed and inscribed by the author (Sister Duffy). "The life story of Katharine Drexel (1858 - 1955), foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, spans a long period of time and covers eventful and far reaching developments in the history of the United States" (preface). Red, white, and blue paper wrappers with white title to spine and front panels. Rubbing to panels. Pen marking to front free endpaper. 434 pages. REL/071520. Very Good. More

University Press of Florida, 1998. Hardcover. Near mint in a near mint dust jacket. Each author's section has a short biography, bibliographies of works and secondary sources, a transcription of an interview, and a short selection of her work. 250 pp. Literature. LIT/7262. Fine / Fine. More

Philadelphia: Heirloom Press, 2017. Hardcover. Number 4 of 5 copies. Signed by the artist. Folio. "Curio is a collection of quotidian objects that speaks to the idea of woman as domestic curator and as weaker vessel. Images of household vases, cups and bowls are paired with inkblots that evoke the trappings of middle-class existence" (artist's statement). Includes text adapted from the 1868 collection of articles, "Modern Women and What Is Said of Them" and the Kate Chopin novel "The Awakening." Many of the excerpts that the artist has chosen to include objectify women, likening them to jewelry, tables, and other precious possessions. For example: After scolding his wife for sun bathing, Mr. Pontellier looks "at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." Also "The mind ought to be developed a little, and in such a way as to make the body more piquant and attractive. Like the candle inside a Chinese lantern, it may serve to lighten up and show to advantage the pretty devices outside. But the outside is the important thing, and the inside only incidental" (from "Modern Women ...). Others comment on how wives should be controlled or "managed" and the power dynamics within the home. A powerful book about the subjugation of women. Bound in full white alum-tawed leather with seven raised bands to the spine. Printed using letterpress, screenprint, and lithography on paper handmade by the artist. Size: 22 (wide) x 14.5 (tall) inches when open. ARTB/060920. Fine. More

New York: Intima Press, 2023. Softcover. One of 26 standard copies lettered A -Z. This is copy B, signed and lettered by the book artist. There are also 10 copies with deluxe bindings. This powerful and timely new work from Mindy Belloff's Intima Press was four years in the making. It is a double-bound miniature pairing of Shakespeare's classic, The Tragedy of Othello, with The Tragedy of Desdemona, which has commentary and statistics compiled by Belloff. This approach magnifies the plight of abused women and also engages in dialogue with the text of Othello as cultural critique. The Desdemona tragedy highlights issues of patriarchy and gender bias throughout the centuries and gives voice to women who have been silenced. The book artist explores how Othello's intense jealousy and eventual murder of Desdemona parallels a modern Othello - the sports personality O.J. Simpson, who was accused of the double murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Both are tragic stories of jealous rage, domestic violence, male dominance, and femicide. In Desdemona, closing arguments from the legal case and diary entries of the victim are revisited, along with excerpts from Ovid, Dostoevsky and Alice Walker, current news headlines, global statistics on femicide, the 1993 case of Lorena Bobbitt, and more. The use of a dos à dos binding pairs Othello on one side with Desdemona on the other, sharing the same spine - that parallel's Iago's description of marital conjoining as "the beast with two backs," with the two texts and various voices that are conjoined in dialogue, inseparable. This layered narrative continues with a cinematic video card that functions as a time capsule, with an opening montage of images from film and theater productions of Othello, news headlines of sensational stories from the mid-1990s, women's marches from the #MeToo movement, and Supreme Court ruling reversals among other stories. The video is 8:44 minutes. Mindy Belloff is a noted book artist who designed, illustrated, printed and bound this highly inventive work, with a unique box with a magnetic side closure by Celine Lombardi. It is letterpress printed from photopolymer plates in two different shades of browns and reds, with the design of an "O" repeated on each page. The text of Othello is typeset in Adobe Luminari on Mohawk Superfine paper. Desdemona is typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro and printed on Johannot Arches papers. The binding is letterpress printed on paper covers commissioned from Saint-Armand Papeterie in Montreal with Suminagashi marbled edges. The engrossing film on the video card is 2 x 4 inches with volume and play/pause buttons with USB port. An accompanying letterpress printed accordion fold booklet lists the video credits. It is housed in one of two pull-out drawers in the custom box, with the second drawer holding a USB port. The beautiful custom box is covered in fine red cloth with a paper title label on top. A magnificent achievement in fine condition. Book measures 3 5/8 x 2 3/4 x 1 3/4 inches. The box measures 6.5 x 4 x 2.75 inches. Othello has 192 pages; Desdemona has 150 pages. ARTB/100923. Fine. More

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, (1996). Hardcover. INSCRIBED by Nancy M. Neuman, Sarah McClendon, Judy Woodruff and Sara Melendez. Unsent letter laid in from previous owner addressed to Hillary Clinton asking her to sign her chapter so the book could be auctioned for charity. Near fine in near fine illustrated dust jacket with white title to spine. Inscription from editor to half title page and the inscriptions from the essays are at the beginning of their chapters. Two very small spots of soiling to margin of page 131. Else is pristine with photographic illustrations of each essayist. Index, 265 pages. WOM/032817. Near Fine / Near Fine. More

Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin - Madison Libraries, 1984. Paperback. 8vo. Light blue side stapled paper wrappers with maroon title to front wrapper. Minor yellowing to edges and bump to head of spine. Interior is clean and bright. 31 pages. BOB/041017. Very Good. More

Washington DC: The Bureau of National Affairs, 1989. Paperback. SCARCE. 8vo. White and yellow illustrated paper wrappers with black title to front wrapper and to spine. Minor creasing and rubbing to wrappers. 267 pages + about 150 pages of appendix. WOM/032817. Very Good+. More