Indian activist and poet (1879–1949) who was the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state, and the second woman to become the president of the Indian National Congress in 1925. Signed book, The Sceptred Flute: Songs of India. Later printing. NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1928. Hardcover, 5.5 x 8.25, 231 pages. Signed in black ink under her image on the frontispiece, and additionally signed and inscribed on the half-title page, “Sophie Hart from her friend, Sarojini Naidu, Tower Court, Wellesley, 25th Feby 1929, ‘Life is a prism of my light and Death the Shadow of my face.’” Autographic condition: frontispiece rates fine, with some scattered light edge wear and toning; half-title page rates very good to fine, with old tape along hinge and edges, rusty paperclip mark along top edge, and some scattered toning and edge chips. Book condition: G+/None. A rare autograph from the pioneering writer and politician who campaigned for Indian independence, enhanced by a powerful quote from one of her poems. RR Auction COA.
