Ahead of her time
March 9, 2021 1:43 AM Subscribe
A treasure trove of women's intellectual history has been discovered in a Cambridge college library after being forgotten for nearly 300 years. The astonishing collection comprises 47 books and pamphlets owned and annotated by the philosopher Mary Astell (1666–1731), viewed by many as “the first English feminist”.
Probably a good thing that this collection was found recently, during an era when Magdalene is apparently able to celebrate women's achievements, rather than thirty years ago when they were the last of the Cambridge colleges to admit women, and some of the male undergraduates of the time wore black armbands, flew the college flag at half mast and even reportedly carried a coffin around college grounds to protest the admission of female students.
posted by terretu at 5:32 AM on March 9, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by terretu at 5:32 AM on March 9, 2021 [11 favorites]
"The old library is open to the public for an exhibition one morning a month and visitors pass through the room where Astell’s books live. But usually, access is by appointment only for visiting scholars and they mostly pre-order what they want to look at. So Astell’s collection has been hiding in plain sight really.”
"Forgotten" seems overstated, given that the books were no doubt cataloged all the time, had provenance information, etc., allowing Sutherland to look at them with fresh eyes, rooted in changes in the culture and scholarship.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:31 AM on March 9, 2021 [5 favorites]
"Forgotten" seems overstated, given that the books were no doubt cataloged all the time, had provenance information, etc., allowing Sutherland to look at them with fresh eyes, rooted in changes in the culture and scholarship.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:31 AM on March 9, 2021 [5 favorites]
In Our Time did a great programme about Mary Astell a while back. I hadn't heard of her before then and it was fascinating.
posted by cpatterson at 9:00 AM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by cpatterson at 9:00 AM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thanks for sharing this!
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:18 PM on March 9, 2021
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:18 PM on March 9, 2021
Mary Astell: first English feminist
Aphra Behn: Hold my small beer.
I feel like Aphra Behn would have drunk strong beer.
posted by jb at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
Aphra Behn: Hold my small beer.
I feel like Aphra Behn would have drunk strong beer.
posted by jb at 12:22 PM on March 10, 2021 [1 favorite]
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Aphra Behn: Hold my small beer.
(Though seriously, Mary Astell sounds like an amazing philosopher, and I hadn't heard of her before today, so thank you for posting!)
posted by basalganglia at 4:38 AM on March 9, 2021 [8 favorites]