Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony

1899. First Edition . Signed. (ANTHONY, Susan B.) HARPER, Ida Husted. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony. Indianapolis and Kansas City: Bowen-Merrill, 1899, 1898. Two volumes. Octavo, modern full brown morocco, gilt medallion portraits from original bindings retained on front covers, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $16,500.First edition of the first two volumes of this biography of America's pioneering reformer—the only volumes published during her lifetime, inscribed and signed by her in each volume. Inscribed in Volume I: ""Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, Ann Arbor—Michigan—From her affectionate friend & coworker Susan B. Anthony. Rochester, N.Y. Jan. 1, 1899,"" and in Volume II: ""Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, Ann Arbor—Michigan—May the New Year bring added causes for happiness to her and all the loved ones of her home circle & to all homes—is the wish of her affectionate friend and coworker, Susan B. Anthony. Rochester, N.Y. Jan. 1, 1899.""At her death in Rochester, New York in 1906, Susan B. Anthony, who ""came to personify the demand for woman suffrage to most Americans… left an enormous legacy… Her image, words and standards of work permeated the struggle for what women called the 'Susan B. Anthony amendment… Another legacy lasted still longer; Anthony made certain that the movement's history survived. In 1897 she brought Ida Husted Harper to live with her in Rochester to prepare two volumes of the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, based on massive archives"" (ANB). Anthony and Harper closely collaborated on the first two volumes, the only volumes of the biography published in Anthony's lifetime. A later volume—not included in this set—was added by Harper after Anthony's death. With frontispiece portraits, 68 full-page illustrations and over 100 in-text facsimile signatures and engraved ornamental initials throughout. Recipient Olivia Bigelow Hall (1822-1908), a noted suffragette from Ann Arbor, Michigan, hosted Anthony on many occasions and is mentioned numerous times in the text. She and her husband Israel Hall bought the Baldwin house and 78 acres of farmland in 1876; the Baldwin/Hall house remains the oldest house in the North Burns Park neighborhood in Ann Arbor, and much of that land became ""Olivia B. Hall's Subdivision"" in 1890, filled in with homes for University of Michigan faculty and prominent Ann Arborites, as well as fraternity and sorority houses. Olivia Avenue in that neighborhood is named for her.Fine condition. A desirable inscribed copy.