Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) grew up poor in Maine. Her writing career launched proper when she entered her poem ‘Renascence’ (1912) in a competition. She did not win, but her reputation as an independently minded woman who wrote about female sexuality, and played with the ‘conventional gender roles in poetry’, began to form. Millay, a bisexual, insisted on being called Vincent, and she became ‘a spokesperson for women’s rights and social equality’. She married in 1923, the same year that she won the Pulitzer Prize, and her feminist husband took care of all the domestics of life so Millay could concentrate on her writing. Harriet Monroe, an editor of this Anthology, described her as the ‘greatest woman poet since Sappho’.]]> Edited by Harriet Monroe and Alice Corbin Henderson]]> Books]]> Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, and effort from Drs Erik Olssen, Dorothy Page, and George Griffiths, Ian Church, and Jane Thomson (editor). Two women who had a quiet influence on Dunedin’s cultural life were Dora and Mary de Beer, sisters of Esmond. Dora (1891-1982) and Mary (1890-1981) never married, and for the most part lived in London, except for their travels overseas. Robyn Notman’s article gives greater detail on the lives and activities of these remarkable women]]> Edited by Jane Thomson]]> Books]]> Hypatia was born in Alexandria, Egypt, part of the Roman Empire, in around 370AD. She was a Neoplatonist and pagan, and taught mathematics and philosophy, mainly to Christian students. Hypatia wrote several commentaries on mathematical works during her career, one of which was an edited version of Claudius Ptolemy’s Almagest. Here, Gibbon’s Decline and Fall outlines Hypatia’s popularity, and how people ‘most illustrious for their rank or merit were impatient to visit the female philosopher’. Highly respected for her intellect, she acted as counsel to various politicos in Alexandria, something that would ultimately lead to her murder by an irate Christian mob. Hypatia was the ‘first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics.’]]> Edward Gibbon]]> Books]]> Emma Goldman (1869-1940) emigrated to America, from Lithuania, to live with her sister near New York. Her anarchist views were cemented by reading Russian revolutionary, Peter Kropotkin, her experience of dire working conditions as a seamstress, and the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886. Goldman was a great orator and travelled the United States lecturing on her beliefs. She was an anti-capitalist, an atheist, a feminist, and she thought violence carried out in the name of fighting for her chosen ideologies was just a means to an end. Goldman spent time in jail for her troubles, and finally in 1919, she was deported from America. J. Edgar Hoover called her one of the ‘most dangerous anarchists’ in the country. She spent her whole life agitating for change.]]> Emma Goldman]]> Books]]> Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) grew up on a diet of activism. Both her parents were political animals. Pankhurst first began to notice disparities between the sexes, when she saw that her education was not considered as important as that of her brother. She attended her first Suffrage meeting with her mother aged 14, and so began her lifelong career as a political and social activist. A self-professed ‘hooligan’, Pankhurst was arrested many times, all in the name of gaining the vote for women in England. Here is Pankhurst with fellow Suffragettes, Christabel, her daughter, and Flora Drummond (1878-1949), at her ‘First Conspiracy Trial’. They look decidedly bored with proceedings.]]> Emmeline Pankhurst]]> Books]]> Marie Curie (1867-1934) was born Marya Skoldowska in Poland. Initially educated in Warsaw, she attended the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1903, Curie won her first Nobel Prize (the first woman to do so), alongside her husband, Pierre, and a colleague, Henri Becquerel, for their researches into radiation. During her career, Curie also lectured at the Sorbonne; won another Nobel Prize – this time solo in 1911; and trained radiographers for WWI. She continued her studies into radium and radioactivity her whole life, all the while refusing to accept the dangers of radiation. This biography, written by her daughter Eve, paints Curie as a highly intelligent, selfless woman, who eschewed fame and fortune for the greater good. Curie, of course, died of radiation poisoning.]]> Eve Curie. Translated by Vincent Sheean]]> Books]]> Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-48) grew up in Alabama, where women were expected to be meek, mild, and decorous. She was nothing of the sort. Zelda met her future husband, Scott, in her late teens, and the married pair became celebrity New York drunks, the life of any party. Zelda was Scott’s muse, but from her diaries she unwittingly supplied Scott with material for his novels, like This Side of Paradise. At times, he uplifted whole lines of prose. Zelda found this out, and commented, in a review of one of her husband’s books, that ‘plagiarism begins at home’. However, Zelda was an author in her own right, and spent much of her life trying to come out from behind the shadow of her husband’s success. Largely unappreciated in her own time, Zelda became a feminist icon in the 1970s.]]> F. Scott Fitzgerald]]> Book covers]]> Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) had to fight was against her family. She was born rich and privileged, and at the time, nursing was a profession for low class women. Nightingale’s family were determined to stop her, but luckily they were unable to. Her life-long achievements are too many to list here, but ‘in a nutshell’: Nightingale made nursing a recognised profession; she established the first training school for nurses; she used statistics to highlight deficiencies in healthcare and sanitation; she wrote over 200 books and articles; and she was instrumental in the reform of hospital best practice. Nightingale’s influences on healthcare continue to be felt today. This is Notes on Nursing, her most famous and influential book.]]> Florence Nightingale]]> Books]]> Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was declared illegitimate after her father, King Henry VIII, had her mother, Anne Boleyn, executed in 1536. Despite this, and after the death of her half-brother and sister, Elizabeth became Queen of England in 1558. Elizabeth has been described as a ‘canny and utterly ruthless’ leader – she led England out of troubled times, and was a religiously tolerant monarch. Elizabeth never married, claiming in a speech to Parliament that she had married England and its people were her children. She gave her name to the Elizabethan Age, and ruled for 45 years. The literature on Elizabeth’s life and times is abundant. Here is Francis Osborne’s Historical Memoires, in which he describes her moderate and stable rule.]]> Francis Osborne]]> Books]]> Elizabeth Purslowe took over the printing business. This was not an unusual step. Between 1550 and 1650, there were some 130 women in the print trade, and a number took over from their husbands when they died. Other female printers included ‘Widow Sayle’, ‘Widow of J. Blageart’, Alice Norton, and Hannah Allen. Active in London between 1633 and 1646, Elizabeth Purslowe printed 146 texts. Many were outstanding productions like this Fulke Greville edition, which was one of her firsts. Apart from being known as a female printer, Purslowe has the distinction of a slouchy hat named after her: the ‘Purslowe’ hat.]]> Fulke Greville, Baron Brooke]]> Books]]> Gertrude Bell was one of the most potent British influences in the Near East & one of the greatest women travellers of all time.’ Bell (1868-1926) was like her compatriot in the desert, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia): an Oxford graduate, archaeologist, secret agent, Foreign Office employee, and inveterate traveller. Indeed, to Lawrence (and others) she was ‘Bell of Baghdad’. Bell’s early expeditions in the Middle East, which included meeting and conversing with Bedouin tribesmen, resulted in her Syria: The Desert and the Sown (1907), of which this is a later reprint. Bell continued to have immense influence in Arab and Iraq affairs until her death in 1926.]]> Gertrude Lowthian Bell]]> Books]]> The Walls Do Not Fall (1944) is the first book in Hilda ‘H.D.’ Doolittle’s Trilogy, a personal poetic response to WWII. This 43-section poem by American poet, Doolittle, was dedicated to her lover, Bryher (Winifred Ellerman). For ‘H.D’ (1886-1961), it all started in 1911, at the Eiffel Tower restaurant in Soho, London. There, she met the Imagist poet Ezra Pound who, as a supporter and friend, conferred on her the term ‘H.D. Imagiste’, which later was shortened to her pen-name ‘H.D’. An important feminist poet, ‘H.D’ was the first woman to be granted the American Academy of Arts and Letters medal.]]> H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)]]> Book covers]]> Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) wrote her classic anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with a definite purpose in mind. In 1850, she wrote to the editor of the anti-slavery journal, The National Era: ‘I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak... I hope every woman who can write will not be silent.’ First appearing in serial format (for which she was paid $400), the novel was published in 1852. It was extremely popular, and controversial, especially in the South. It sold 10,000 copies the first week. Over the next year, it sold 300,000 copies in America, and over one million copies in Britain. Because there was no international copyright law, the book was pirated. This edition – with George Cruikshank’s illustrations – is a pirate copy, printed by Cassell in London in 1852. Stowe did not receive a penny for it.]]> Harriet Beecher Stowe]]> Books]]> Katherine Mansfield was part of a New Zealand Profiles series on prominent New Zealanders.]]> Heather Curnow]]> Book covers]]> Helen Kapp (1901-1978) was an artist who studied at Slade School of Art, and the Central School of Arts and Craft in Paris, where she met Modigliani. At one stage, she was director of the Wakefield City Art Gallery, Yorkshire, and first director of Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Westmorland. Kapp’s work, Toying with a Fancy, began ‘out of a cloud of Drambuie on a crisp snowy Yorkshire night’. The result gave her license for satire. The images carry a playful viciousness, something akin to those by German artist, George Grosz. This book is a presentation copy to Charles Brasch, who at one stage tried to organise an artistic residency for Kapp in New Zealand.]]> Helen Kapp]]> Books]]> Queen Christina of Sweden (1629-1689) received all the educational advantages of being one in 17th century Europe. Described by her tutor as ‘not like a female’, Christina became ‘one of the most learned women’ of the time. She inherited the throne aged six when her father died, and from age 18, she ruled Sweden until her abdication in 1654. During her reign, Christina encouraged the sciences, arts, and culture in her Court; she insisted on dressing androgynously; and she refused to marry, apparently having several same-sex relationships in her life. As described in Henri de Valois’s piece, Christina was a ‘SERENISSIMA ac DOCTISSIMA REGINA’ – ‘fairest and most learned Queen’.]]> Henri de Valois]]> Books]]> Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) left England for the Middle East, never to return. This forceful and opinionated (according to William Pitt, her uncle) woman was a risk taker, certainly in a world dominated by male social and religious customs. En route to Cairo, Stanhope lost all her possessions. She refused to wear a veil, and adopted male attire. Indeed, she met the local Pasha wearing a purple velvet robe, embroidered trousers, waistcoat, jacket, and a sabre. Known as ‘Queen Hester’, she undertook the first archaeological dig in Palestine, excavating the ruins of Ashkelon, north of Gaza. She retired to Sidon, halfway between Tyre and Beirut, reclusive, but still forceful. This is volume one of Stanhope’s Memoirs.]]> Hester Stanhope]]> Books]]> Portraits]]> Clothing and dress in art]]> Portraits, Group]]> Women]]> Women in art]]> Hodgkins, Frances, 1869-1947]]> Image]]> Paintings]]> Oil paintings]]> Art]]> Nineteen twenties]]> Twentieth century]]> Human figure in art]]> Women]]> Hotere, Ralph, 1931-]]> Reproduction permission courtesy of Ralph Hotere.]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Drawings]]> Art]]> Nineteen sixties]]> Human figure in art]]> Women]]> Hotere, Ralph, 1931-]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Drawings]]> Art]]> Nineteen sixties]]> Human figure in art]]> Women]]> Hotere, Ralph, 1931-]]> Reproduction permission courtesy of Ralph Hotere.]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Ink drawings]]> Pen works]]> Art]]> Nineteen seventies]]> Human figure in art]]> Women]]> Hotere, Ralph, 1931-]]> Reproduction permission courtesy of Ralph Hotere.]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Ink drawings]]> Pen works]]> Art]]> Twentieth century]]> Human figure in art]]> Women]]> Hotere, Ralph, 1931-]]> Reproduction permission courtesy of Ralph Hotere.]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Ink drawings]]> Pen works]]> Art]]> Nineteen sixties]]> Women ]]> Clothing and dress in art]]> Portraits]]> Women in art]]> Hutton, Nellie Laura Douglas, 1874-1955]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Paintings]]> Oil paintings]]> Art]]> Nineteenth century]]> Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858), wrote in her Visit to Iceland (1852) ‘When I was but a little child, I had already a strong desire to see the world’. Released from an unhappy marriage, and with the education of her sons finalised, Pfeiffer eventually realised her dream of travelling to the Holy Land. In 1842, she travelled to Istanbul and continued on to Palestine and Egypt. After arriving home, she did not stop. Over her lifetime, Pfeiffer visited Scandinavia and Iceland; made a first trip around the world taking in Brazil, Tahiti, and Greece; and a second visiting equatorial Borneo (the first Western woman to do so), California, and Peru. Despite all Pfeiffer’s courageous activities, and writings, she was never accepted into the Royal Geographical Society. This book is an 1852 reprint of her Holy Land adventures.]]> Ida Pfeiffer]]> Books]]>