Early Transgender Autobigraphy "But For The Grace" First Edition 1954

1954. [Transgender] [Autobiography] Allen, Robert. But For The Grace. London: W.H. Allen. 1954. First edition. 149 pages. 8vo. 8 black and white photographic plates. Red cloth boards with gilt text on spine, red and green dust jacket. Robert Allen, born Joyce Allen, was born in 1914 and lived thirty years of his life as a woman until he was officially recognized as a man in 1944. Allen takes his readers through the tumultuous journey of his life having been married to a man at the age of 19, enlisting in the British Army's Auxiliary Territorial Service, then officially being registered as male in 1944, and marrying a woman in the same year. Allen, like many others with gender dysphoria, felt like an outsider since childhood. After an unsuccessful marriage to a man, and time spent as a sergeant in the British Army's women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, he left his small hometown in England to pursue a film career in London presenting as his true identity. Outward displays of gender affirmation not only was looked down upon, but faced legal ramifications in most countries. Working in the film industry where societal norms were less stringent or enforced as much as other workplaces, Allen was able to find the right people to help him legally change his birth certificate to a man. Allen finally and legally married a woman in the midst of the end of WWII in 1944, having an official public ceremony three years after this book's publishing in 1957. Black and white photographs of Allen showcase his journey as a young tomboy girl, to his time in the women's sector of the British military, to his transition into a man, alongside official scans of his birth and marriage certificates before and after his gender affirming registration. The latter chapter goes on to discuss his relationship to religion and his conversion to Catholicism. Allen was 40 by the time he published But For The Grace, having lead ten years identifying as a man, working as a Science Technologist and a qualified Diagnostic Radiographer. Minor wear to dust jacket and minor toning to endpapers. Binding is tight and pages are clean. Overall very good condition. A raw 1950s novel of an individual finding himself in an era of traditional gender normative values.