Item #009013 IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box. Helen Rowland, Harold Speakman.
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box
IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box

IF, A Chant for Wives and The White Woman's Burden, retaining the original dust jacket and housed in the original, illustrated publisher's box.

New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1927. First edition. Hardcover. “If you can win a husband, without trying, and make him think that he’s the prize, not you…” This is a remarkably preserved first edition of Helen Rowland’s blistering feminist parody of Kipling’s famous – and famously male-centric – poems “IF” and “The White Man’s Burden”. Originally published in 1927, this was an attractive little production, bound in illustrated, paper-covered boards, the contents printed and illustrated (by Harold Speakman) in the same purple and orange hues used in the cover and endpaper illustrations. The volume was issued wrapped in a herringbone glassine dust jacket and housed in a two-piece, card lid and base box, the lid repeating the book’s front cover illustration. Both the dust jacket and original box are quite scarce, and without them the book is often worn, soiled, and toned.

This copy retains its original glassine dust jacket and remains housed in the original box in which it was issued. As such, despite the fragility of the publication, it remains in better than near fine condition. The illustrated binding is square, tight, immaculately clean, and sharp cornered with just a touch of wear to the spine ends. The contents are likewise clean, with no spotting or previous ownership marks. The herringbone pattern glassine dust jacket, remarkable simply for being present, is split and a little frayed at the upper rear flap fold and has fractional loss at the lower corners and spine heel, but is otherwise complete. The original box is a bit soiled, the illustrated lid toned with splits at two side seams, but nonetheless noteworthy simply for being present and having done its job protecting the book within for the past century.

American journalist, humorist, and author Helen May Rowland (1875-1950) was sometimes called “America’s Bernard Shaw” for her acerbic wit and sharp aphorisms, most notably on dating, marriage, and gender relations. She was perhaps best known for her long-running column “Reflections of a Bachelor Girl” in the New York World. Item #009013

Price: $250.00

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