The Wives of England, their relative duties, domestic influence, and social obligations ... Athor's edition, completein oe volume.

Sarah Stickney Ellis "must stand alongside Dickens as one of the deep designers of the mid-century family imagination” (Karen Chase and Michael Levenson. The Spectacle of Intimacy: A Public Life for the Victorian Family. [Princeton: 2009], p.66) 

Sarah Stickney ELLIS (1799-1872).

The Wives of England, their relative duties, domestic influence, and social obligations ... Athor's edition, completein oe volume. New York: J. & H.G. Langley, 1843. Octavo (9 1/8 x 5 3/4in;232 x 146mm), pp. [1-]116. (Light soiling to first and last few pages.) Publisher’s paper wrappers (some light discoloration and a few smal tears). Provenance: Mary E Williams (inscription dated 24 April 1843).

Probably the first US edition: the first English edition was published in London in March 1843. N.B. the preface in the present work is different to the one included in the 1st London ediiton.

The “main goal in Ellis‘s writings is to give women more independence, more control, and more agency in a society where women were expected to be submissive and dependent. … Ellis argues for a broad education that will serve a woman regardless of her station. She wants her readers to be capable not only of taking care of a husband and house, but also the accounts and most importantly, herself. … Ellis‘s views on engagement and marriage, … are, to say the very least, disenchanted. Ellis makes an effective argument against most types of marriages and leaves her reader with the impression that remaining single is frequently the best option for a woman. Ellis only approves of marriages where the woman is absolutely certain before her wedding that her husband will treat her as an equal. Given her hesitancy about advocating marriage, it is no wonder that Ellis makes such a big deal about the need to educate women so that they can be independent.” [Ashley Lynn Carlson. "Influence, Agency, and the Women of England: Victorian Ideology and the Works of Sarah Stickney Ellis." (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/10 , pp.161-162]