Mrs Annie Besant

London: Gerald Howe Ltd, 1927. FIRST EDITION. Slim 8vo, pp. 89, (1), (6, incl. 1-page 'Principal Works Consulted' and 2-page Representative Women advert), incl. frontispiece portrait of "Dr Annie Besant" by J. Gower Parks. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, blind-stamped series' device ("Representative Women" arching over a decorative hand mirror) to upper board. Top edge red. Rubbed and bruised to extremities, gentle shelf-wear. Offsetting to endpapers, else, internally clean and tight. A pleasing copy of "the only attempt yet published to deal with the life and personality of Mrs Besant in anything like an impartial spirit". Very good "There is an idea abroad, sedulously fostered by the newspapers, that women after centuries of claustration are at last coming into their own; and that never before in the world's history have they been able to show the smallest portion of their worth. It is the object of the series entitled 'Representative Women' to dispel this comfortable generalization and to prove to the adorable adepts of our night clubs that there is a standard up to which they should at any rate attempt to live." (advert to rear). Francis Birrell (1889-1935) was a journalist, drama critic and bookseller. From 1919 to 1924 Birrell ran a bookshop with David Garnett at 19 Taviton Street, Bloomsbury (retaining his interest until 1927).