The Origins, Tendencies and Principles of Government: Or, A Review of the Rise and Fall of Nations from Early Historic Time to the Present: With Special Considerations Regarding the Future of the United States as the Representative Government of the World [&c...]

New York: Woodhull, Claflin & Co, 1871. First Edition. First printing. Octavo (23cm). Original terracotta cloth, titled in gilt on spine and front cover; portrait frontispiece; 247pp. Shallow chips to cloth at head and tail of spine; corners and board edges tapped; spine gilt very slightly dulled, else a tight, straight, Very Good copy, free of restoration and with joints (external) and hinges (internal) tight and strong.

Woodhull's important first book, in which she analyzes the evolution of human rights through history – with special regard to the landmark civil liberties granted by the U.S. Constitution – to advocate for equality of (truncated) income, opportunity, and suffrage for women. The book was published in conjunction with (and to bolster) her 1872 candidacy for U.S. President, for which she campaigned under the banner of the Equal Rights Party; it was the first bona-fide Presidential campaign by an American woman. Though the run was doomed from the start – most obviously by Woodhull's gender, but hindered also by her advocacy of such radical notions as free love, socialism, and spiritualism (to say nothing of her age, not yet 35, making her constitutionally ineligible for the presidency) – it cemented Woodhull's place in American history. Often lost in the discussion is the significance of the current work; which, though unquestionably eccentric in spots, nonetheless attempted to build a clear logical and historical basis for women's equality, thus establishing Woodhull as an important intellectual advocate not only for feminism but for other once-radical causes as well.

The book was issued by the publishing firm which Woodhull ran in partnership with her sister, Tennessee Claflin, through which the sisters also issued their weekly newspaper Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, in which preliminary versions of some chapters of the present text first appeared. Though not scarce institutionally, the book has become truly infrequent in commerce, especially in unrestored condition; we can trace only a single copy at auction in the past two decades. FRANKLIN (The Case for Woman Suffrage: A Bibliography), p.45. Somehow missed by Krichmar. (Inventory #: 84475)