MILL, J.S. (& H. TAYLOR HARDY). The Subjection of Women. Lond., Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1869. (2), 188 pp. Cont. hcf. extra w. raised bands & red letterpiece. (Top of spine chipped, corners scuffed, previous owner stamp of J. (& J.W) v. Woensel Kooy on free endpaper, blind stamp of the 'Edinburg Subscription Library' on title). -- Added: A. REYER. Auszug aus John Stuart Mill's 'Unterordnung der Frauen'. Graz, 1869. 71 pp. Or. printed wrps. (Wrps. a bit soiled). -- (2).
Ad 1: First edition of one of the great statements on the equality of the sexes. Mill had long been a women's rights advocate, having been influenced by the thinking of his father, the Utilitarian philosopher James Mill, and by his long friendship with, and then marriage to, the philosopher Harriet Taylor Hardy (1807-1858), a passionate advocate for equality. Harriet Taylor's influence on this work was substantial, and acknowledged by Mill: "All that is most striking and profound in what was written by me belongs to my wife, coming from the fund of thought that had been made common to us both by our innumerable conversations and discussions on a topic that filled so large a place in our minds" (Autobiography, 1873, p. 266).€ 500