Julia Ward Howe, 1854

[HOWE, Julia Ward (1819-1910).] Passion-Flowers. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1854.

First edition of Howe’s explosive and autobiographical first collection, published anonymously with the help of Longfellow. Known for writing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1861, Julia Ward Howe was dedicated to the Union cause and later became a prominent figure in the women’s suffrage movement by founding Woman’s Journal in 1870. Howe’s early poetry is a confessional outcry against the domestic oppression experienced by women, and was praised by Hawthorne, Whittier, and Longfellow for its intellectual intensity. Longfellow wrote about Passion-Flowers in his journal, saying, “Here is revolt enough, between these blue covers.” (Williams, 2). Publisher’s catalogue at the end dated “January 1854.” not mentioned by Blanck. See Gary Williams’s Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe (1999). BAL 9409.

Octavo (180 x 107mm). 8 pp publisher’s catalogue at the end, unopened (some thumbing). Original green cloth gilt and blind stamped (some sunning to the spine, head and tail caps bumped); modern custom slipcase and chemise.