A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects.

London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1792. Rare first edition of this landmark work in both Enlightenment philosophy and the history of feminism. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards by Randolph & English. From the library of Virginia chancery lawyer Henry G. Cannon with his ownership inscription to the pastedown and that of his father, the book's previous owner, to the top portion of the title page which has been excised and supplied. Period notation from presumably a member of the Cannon household to the first page of the dedication to M. Talleyrand-Perigord, Late Bishop of Autun, "This Talleyrand is the man who said that Language was given to man to conceal his thoughts And his Grace of Autun certainly acted up to his favorite sentiment E.G.C." Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord was Napoleon's chief diplomat during the years when French military victories brought one European state after another under French hegemony. Wollstonecraft was prompted to write the Rights of Woman after reading Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly, which stated that women should only receive a domestic education; from her reaction to this specific event, she launched a broad attack against sexual double standards, indicting men for encouraging women to indulge in excessive emotion. In very good condition with some intermittent foxing. An nice example with unique provenance. Overall, exceptionally clean internally.