Woman and Her Relation to the Church

Lexington, KY: James E. Hughes, 1902. [32] pp. 1 vols. 16mo. Original lettered wrappers stapled. Wrapper split along spine, else near fine. [32] pp. 1 vols. 16mo. Inscribed on the inside upper wrapper: "Miss Alice E. Ives. With the compliments of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 250 West 94th St. New York. Sept. 14, 1902. Read & ponder the tyranny of the church & how it has degraded women." The inscription continues on verso of the title: "The greatest block in the way of woman's complete emancipation is the Canon Law, with the discipline of the church, the teaching of prelates in their pulpits, the innumerable texts in the Bible, as degrading to the (truncated) mother of the race making her subordination absolute, because taught by the church as the will of God; thus perverting her religious sentiment the strongest element in her nature."

The author of this pamphlet, Harriet M. Bonebright Closz (1861-1940), was a contributor to the free-thought periodical Blue-Grass Blade and the present work argues for the subjegation of women by the Church. It further includes a poem by Closz titled The Woman's Burden. Given the opinions offered by Stanton in her Woman's Bible, published 1895-1898, the present work proved an appropriate companion piece.

OCLC records but two copies of the pamphlet (Univ. of Kentucky and Brown). The present example inscribed by Stanton to Alice Emma Ives (1876-1930), a noted playwright, whose works included an 1896 pro-suffrage drama titled "A Very New Woman (Inventory #: 319729)