Woman, in Her Social and Domestic Character. By Mrs. John Sanford.

London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1831 First edition. Half burgundy morocco over marbled boards, gilt spine. . Twelvemo. Light wear to binding extremities. The occasional minor stain or smudge. Clean tear to upper margin of terminal blank, 1/3 of rear flyleaf has been cut away. A very good, tight copy Elizabeth Poole Sandford (1797-1853) was a domestic moralist and the wife of Church of England clergyman John Sandford (1801-73). Woman, in her Social and Domestic Character is a work that serves to encourage woman to both accept and (truncated) excel in their natural domestic roles in order to create as tranquil a home life for their husbands as possible. However, she notes the importance of letters to women and writes, "We cannot, indeed, for a moment question the advantage of letters to a religious woman. They afford her occupation, refresh her mind, and increase the power of her usefulness." (p. 31). Religion is also advocated as inherently necessary to a woman in terms of cultivating her virtues, including affability and self-denial. She discourages women from attempting to leave their "natural spheres" because they have been assigned a "subordinate place, as well as subordinate powers." The rest of the book focuses on how women ought to approach romance, education, and their overall female duties, including total obedience in conjugal relationships (Oxford DNB). (Inventory #: 16459)