You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - March - 2017 Issue

It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World

 

 

Men shall always comply with women’s desires...

The power women have over men is not a negative thing;

it’s a gift from Nature, it was meant for the happiness of mankind.

 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

 

 

It is a modest booklet of 54 pages entitled De l’influence des femmes dans l’ordre civil et politique / Of the Influence of Women in Politics and Civil Order. But the topic and the date of publication, 1789, make it worthy of attention. As a matter of fact, it happens to be at the root of feminism—well, in a slightly macho way. The first paragraph of the famous Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 reads: “Men were born and remain free and equal in rights...” Suddenly, a bold and female voice rose: “What about women?

 

Taking the lead of the liberation struggle of “too weak a sex, which has been oppressed for too long” (Rêveries patriotiques), Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) became the ultimate figure of French “feminism” during the Revolution. An educated woman very much involved in the “philosophical” ideas of the time, she was of all the good fights, from the abolition of slavery to the abolition of privileges. But her most remembered exploit is the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791), a sharp reply to the Declaration of the rights of Man... And it is no lukewarm manifest: “Considering that ignoring, forgetting or despising women caused all public grievances, (women) have decided to expose their natural, holy and inalienable rights in this solemn declaration.” The term of “feminism” is an anachronism, but it best describes this fiery woman, who was eventually beheaded on the guillotine.

 

Other revolutionaries evoked the rights of women. In 1790, Nicolas de Condorcet (1743-1794) wrote, in The Admission of Women to the Right of Vote: “Whether no human being has true rights, or they all have the same ones; and he who votes against the rights of others on the ground of religion, colour or sex, is denying his own rights.” But not everybody regarded the rights of women as crucial. In Trois femmes de la Révolution (BNF Collection), the modern historian Léopold Lacour writes: “During the first months of 1789, appeared a sort of “feminist” agitation. Mocked in most pamphlets, the matter of the vote of women also gave birth to serious writings such as Requête des femmes pour leur admission aux Etats Généraux, Protestation des dames françaises contre la tenue des Etats prétendus généraux, De l’influence des femmes dans l’ordre civil et politique, etc...” Thus, our little booklet is quoted among a handful of serious writings!

 

 

Who’s that boy?

 

According to the National Library of France, our booklet is anonymous. But in his book Théologie et politique au siècle des Lumières (1770-1820) published in 1973, Bernard Plongeron attributes it to “a deputy of the Etats Généraux (the revolutionary assembly—editor’s note), the honourable lawyer Antoine Sevran from Grenoble (1737-1807).” Plongeron even says that his booklet did inspire Abbot Grégoire’s Of the Influence of Christianity Over the Condition of Women (Paris, 2nd edition, 1826, 132 p. in-8°). One thing is for sure, our booklet was written by a man; and he couldn’t hide it, even while advocating that “in order to break asunder the chains that hold us captive, we must make women a part of our fight: they must stand by the freedom fighters!” The first 28 pages draw up a sort of historical catalogue; the author lists various female deeds of importance. Esther, denouncing the plot of Aman and “saving her brothers, and freeing the empire from a monster”; Semiramis, the Queen of Babylon, who “conquered the whole of Asia and ruled the largest empire that had ever existed”; in more recent times, he talks about Anne Boleyn, whose misfortune “destroyed the Popish authority, and soon Catholicism, in England”; of Elisabeth 1st, who “humiliated Spain” and “built the maritime glory of England.” Our author did not hold courtesans in high esteem—he acknowledges the tremendous influence la Du Barry or la Pompadour had on French politics, but magnanimously adds: “let’s not blame French women for the crimes committed by a handful of them only”—a manly piece of advice, indeed.

 

A paternalistic benevolence

 

The revolution was a period of great social progress. But while slavery was abolished—though later reinstated for a while by Napoleon—, women still had a long way to go. Emphatically evoking “the power and the holy duty women owe their country”, the author of our pamphlet confines them to a domestic role. As a matter of fact, he sounds paternalistic: “I will now tell you what women must do against the peril facing our country.” First, he recommends them to be good mothers. “Today, you must create citizens, and blow patriotism into the minds of your children (...). The mother must turn her household into a patriotic university.” Far from the revolutionary assembly, household was their kingdom: “Our freedom must be rooted in the bosom of the peaceful occupation of domestic life.” But they were also urged to fight on another battlefield, the hearts of men: “It is against despotism that you must arm your charms; against it that you must exalt the courage of your admirers.” Our author even suggests that a man should swear to defend his country against despotism before making love to a woman. “Whose man would dare breaking such a promise?” he asks, before adding: “Such is the privilege of women, to command both the mind and the heart.” Ite missa est.

 

Our author added several notes to his text; one of them reminds us of a paragraph written by Guillaume-Thomas Raynal—it is believed that Diderot himself wrote this part of A philosophical and political history of the settlements and trade of Europeans in the East and West Indies (1786)—about slave owners! It deals with the way the males of various countries treat their women: “The English love more than they respect them; the Northern peoples are interested in reproduction only; could the Ottomans love them? To them, they are only machines to satisfy their pleasures. Esteem and confidence—the charms of life—, are banned from their relationship. (...) The Italians only love them by outburst; and they often offend them—and nature—out of an unworthy and shameful preference. To end up, the Spaniards tyrannize them with adoration.” And guess what? “Only the French know how to love, esteem and respect women.” Á votre service, mesdames!

 

Dreams and things

 

No doubt a woman like Olympe de Gouges couldn’t be satisfied with this paternalistic vision of the role of women in the state affairs. But she was conscious of the hardship ahead. Wasn’t one of her famous writings entitled “patriotic daydream”? And the dream turned to nightmare when, following the inevitable political shifts of these troubled times, she was eventually executed in 1793. Her Déclaration des Droits de la femme et de la Citoyenne remains, though. And our surprising booklet, though supposedly siding with women in their struggle towards emancipation, was yet another obstacle in their way. Let’s bear in mind that the right to vote wasn’t granted to French women before 1944—one hundred and fifty five years after the Revolution. Meanwhile, “all males remained equal...” Females were required to patiently wait at home. It takes time for some dreams to come true.

 

 

Thibault Ehrengardt

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
  • Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts Sotheby'sSell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • GonnelliAuction 59Antique prints, paintings and mapsMay 20th 2025 GonnelliAuction 59Antique prints, paintings and mapsMay 20th 2025
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Ketterer Rare BooksAuction May 26th Ketterer Rare BooksAuction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions