Two items: ALS, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, June 13, 1872. Letter to Miss Mary Carpenter. In full: “I can only send you the written copy of my Prospectus, soiled by the Printer’s hand, who promised me the whole edition early this morning. Now, at 12 n, I have seen nothing of it. I am going to Argyll Lodge by invitation today, and must dress at once. Thence I go to your sister-in-law, who had kindly sent for me. Lady Augusta Stanley has not written to me. I sent her your letter, with a modest note of my own. I am sorry & ashamed to write to you so hurriedly, after the great kindness & hospitality you have extended to me. But I must not tell you how grateful I am for these, because you will know how you would feel in my place.”
Also, an autograph manuscript, signed “Julia Ward Howe,” four vertically-lined pages, 4.5 x 7, the third and fourth pages are on adjoining sheets. Titled “Prospectus,” the manuscript reads, in full: “I have determined, in cooperation with some others, to hold a Congress in London, on the 1st & 2nd days of July next, with the twofold view of considering the momentous subject of Peace, and the proper and possible agency of women in its promotion. In this view, I ask assistance of earnest and thoughtful [she crossed out “men and women”] persons, both in devising the plan of discussion to be followed, and in securing the condition of its execution. Wishing, if possible, to invite in our proposed study the advantages of analysis and of synthesis. I propose under the former head to give consideration to the following points of argument. Antagonism of sex [Antagonism] of Parentage. Between Capital and Labor. Between Authority and Intelligence. Between the individual and society. Between different nations. Under the head of synthesis we shall desire to illustrate the great principles of human brotherhood, the religious and moral unity of the race, and the great power and duty of woman in cultivating and maintaining in the [she crossed out “community”] public mind the source of this unity. The assistance sought by this Prospectus would consist mainly in allotting different portions of the work to be done to those best able to undertake them in raising funds to defray the expenses of the London Meeting, and in the formation of Committees of Correspondence, with a view to some permanent organization resulting from this Congress.” In very good condition, with some scattered light toning and soiling to letter; with manuscript having intersecting folds, scattered soiling by the printer (mentioned in Howe’s letter), and some light toning and creasing.
The recipient of this letter, Mary Carpenter, was an English educational and social reformer, one of the foremost public speakers of her time. Howe visited England in the spring of 1872, in her words, “hoping by my personal presence to effect the holding of a Woman’s Peace Congress.” She aimed to found a “Woman’s Apostolate of Peace,” but was advised that in order to gain a following for her cause in Britain, she needed an endorsement from a member of the aristocracy. A remarkable manuscript by the preeminent champion of pacifism and women’s suffrage in the nineteenth century. RR Auction COA.
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