Women's Rights.- [Drake (Judith)] An Essay in Defence

Women's Rights.- [Drake (Judith)] An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex. In which are inserted the Characters of a Pedant, a Squire, a Beau, a Vertuoso, a Poetaster, a City-Critick, &c. In a Letter to a Lady. Written by a Lady, second edition, engraved frontispiece of 'The Compleat Beau' (cropped at foot with loss of one line to caption, as often), title spotted, some light staining, tear to lower margin of E8, for A. Roper and E. Wilkinson at the Black Boy, and R. Clavel at the Peacock, in Fleetstreet, 1696 bound with [Symson (Ez.)] A farther Essay relating to the Female-Sex...with the description of Self-Love...[&] A Character of a Compleat Beau, first edition, 5pp. advertisements at end, a little browned, for A.Roper and E.Wilkinson...., 1696, together 2 works in 1 vol., engraved bookplate of John Houlton Esqr. of Farley Castle, Somerset, contemporary panelled calf ruled and stamped in blind, spine gilt (gilding rather worn), rubbed, joints cracked, spine ends repaired, later endpapers, 8vo

⁂ Two important early works on women's rights. The first item is the first English feminist tract, first published the same year, and also attributed to Mary Astell but now generally accepted to be by Judith Drake whose husband wrote the commendatory verses at the beginning. The treatise is a defence against male accusations of ignorance, vanity, enviousness etc. of women and also addresses the faults of men, particularly satirizing some of her contemporaries.
The second work contains a dedication to the Countess of Kildare signed by "Ez. Symson" (inked out in some copies but not in this case), but has been variously attributed to Mary Astell, Judith Drake and H. Wyatt. It was written either in response to, or as a continuation of, An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex and contains chapters on Modesty, Piety, Knowledge, Economy, the Rule, Business and Peace. The subjects of the character sketches are a Coquette, Hypocrites, the Conceited Female, a Gamester and the Litigious.
The first work ran into several editions, all of which are scarce in commerce, but the second does not appear to have been reissued.