The Laws of Life with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls
New York: George P. Putnam, 1852.
First edition, first printing of the first book by the first female physician in the United States. Bound in publisher's black cloth decorated in blind with spine title lettered in gilt, all edges stained maroon, pale brown endsheets. Near Fine with slight loss at foot, small patch of worming to front joint, light foxing to text block edges and margins, former owner details to a preliminary blank, else remarkably bright and clean and very uncommon as such. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. She struggled to gain admission at any medical school beginning in the 1840s at a time when women were banned from studying medicine at all American medical schools. She gained entrance to Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York only after the population of male students voted unanimously to allow her admittance to study. The Laws of Life was Dr. Blackwell's first published work. Insights gleaned from clinical practice and enlightened by her approach to care are seen through the lens of the doctor's values. The work emphasizes the importance of social stability for girls and women and its influence on their individual health. The intended audience for The Laws of Life was girls and women themselves, and not male physicians who cared for female patients.
Price: $22,500