Woman and her Sphere

Helping to unveil the 1000th English Heritage Blue Plaque – dedicated to the Women’s Freedom League, at 1 Robert Street, in September 2023. (Photo courtesy of English Heritage).

As both historical researcher and book dealer I stumble across facts that, while delighting, do not fit into planned projects. ‘Woman and her Sphere’ provides a home for such orphans, rescued from the rubble of history. The ‘orphans’ include people, mainly women, and artefacts from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries that have caught my eye and allowed me the pleasure of further research. I have attempted to corral these interests under the tabs you see at the top of this page.

I have enjoyed what might be termed a ‘portfolio career’ as both bookseller and historian. In the latter capacity I have, over the years, written books and articles, contributed to a number of radio – and television – programmes, and given many talks – at academic conferences, to schools and to local history groups – on a range of topics associated with my researches. I was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2018 for ‘services to education’ – with particular reference to the history of the women’s suffrage movement.

My interests are not, however, by any means confined to suffrage. I have, for instance, written introductions to over 50 20th-century novels republished by Dean Street Press, under the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint. I am also an on-going contributor to the Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Poetry, producing short biographical entries on poets (particularly women) of the 18th and early 19th centuries. And, as you will see from one of the tabs above, I have an abiding interest in the life and times of Mariana Starke (1762-1928), ‘the celebrated tourist’, who wrote the first modern guide-book to Italy – or, indeed, to anywhere.

As a bookseller, I sell second-hand books and ephemera by and about women, suffrage being a particular speciality, and produce catalogues of items for sale. Do get in touch if you would like to be added to my mailing list. Lists are sent by email. For my latest catalogue – see Catalogue 210

Contact me at elizabeth.crawford2017@outlook.com 

And this is all how it came about.

After graduating from Exeter University in history and politics, I worked for some years for Cambridge University Press and then J.M. Dent before combining work as a free-lance copy editor with caring for my three children.

I began selling second-hand books and ephemera by and about women in 1984. This area was then regarded by the trade as of little consequence. However, over time,  interest in women’s – and family – history has grown and been reflected in an awareness of the importance of primary source material – books and ephemera – in composing a picture of women’s lives in the past.

Intrigued by the material that was passing through my hands, I have, over the last 25 years or so researched and written several books. The first, The Women’s Suffrage Movement: a reference guide  (Routledge 1999) grew out of the necessity of researching items connected with the suffrage movement in order to be able to catalogue them for sale accurately. ‘What’, I thought, ‘is needed is a compendium containing full information on the people and societies involved.’  A publisher’s editor to whom I mentioned the idea agreed – and I set to work.

 The Reference Guide  was followed by The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: a regional survey, published by Routledge in 2005, which explains how – from 1866 -the suffrage movement developed throughout the British Isles.

In between these two books I wrote Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle, published by Francis Boutle in 2002. In this I discuss the lifetime’s work of a group of efficient, highly-motivated women who transformed women’s lives in Britain in the last quarter of the 19th century. The work of the Garretts and their circle opened for women entry to areas of work and study from which they had hitherto been barred – medicine, education,  and interior and landscape design – as well as, at the same time, campaigning for the vote.

Campaigning for the Vote: Kate Parry Frye’s Suffrage Diary was published by Francis Boutle in 2013. For this I combined the two aspects of my work, turning a voluminous multi-volumes diary that I bought as a bookseller into another source of primary research material for those interested in the suffrage movement. The book is now out of print – but Kate’s extensive archive is in the safe custody of the Archives of Royal Holloway. University of London.

In fact, although Campaigning for the Vote is out of print, Kate Frye (1878-1959) lives on, because she was resurrected by ITV and put (played by Romola Garai) in a series – The Great War: The People’s Story. ITV then commissioned me to write her life. This story of an ordinary Englishwoman will appeal to all those interested in a real life lived – from the palmy days of Victoria to  the New Elizabethan age. For more details read here.

Kate Parry Frye: the long life of an Edwardian actress and suffragette is only available as an e-book. Download the e-book  from iTunes – : http://bit.ly/PSeBKPFITVal or from Amazon.

Next came Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists, published by Francis Boutle in 2018. It covers the lives of over 100 artists, men and women (although mainly women), who worked to promote the suffrage cause. In soft covers, with over 100 illustrations in colour and black and white. £20.

My most recent publication is Millicent Garrett Fawcett: Selected Writings, co-edited with Prof. Melissa Terras, pub. by UCL Press, 2022. It is free to download, as well as being available for purchase as a hardback or paperback.

I have contributed chapters to a number of multi-authored, suffrage-related volumes. Do consult the Links (on right) to see – and hear – the fruit of some of the research I have undertaken over the last few years – and to view the books and ephemera that I have for sale on Abebooks.