“TO BREAK THROUGH THE MYSTIQUE AND CHANGE THE VERY ‘PSYCHES OF WOMEN, AND MEN”: FIRST EDITION OF THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE, WITH A FASCINATING AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY FRIEDAN, DATED BY HER WITHIN WEEKS OF THE BOOK’S PUBLICATION

FRIEDAN, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. WITH: Autograph letter signed. New York: W.W. Norton, (1963). Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of Betty Friedan’s most influential book, an exceptional copy with a rare autograph letter signed by Friedan, dated within weeks of her book’s publication, a richly informative letter that speaks to the book’s economic theories, written to the Associate Editor of the American Federation of Musicians.

In this book’s rare laid-in autograph letter, written in Friedan’s precise cursive, and signed and dated by her “March 16, 1963,” within weeks of her book’s publication on February 25th, she writes: “Thank you very much indeed for your letter. I think the economic thing is very important indeed, and realize I did little more than hint at it in my book, and along with some of the changes you suggest will help, I think it necessary to break through the mystique and change the very ‘psyches’ of women, and men. I hope my book will start or crystallize this for some; writing it crystallized it for me [underlining in original]. I’d love to talk to you sometime—I come to New York frequently now for all this radio-TV-promotion of the book, so perhaps we could have lunch some day. Sincerely, Betty Friedan.”

Nothing short of revolutionary, “The Feminine Mystique ignited the contemporary women’s movement in 1963 and as a result permanently transformed the social fabric of the United States and countries around the world… With its impassioned yet clear-eyed analysis of the issues that affected women’s lives in the decades after World War II—including enforced domesticity, limited career prospects and, as chronicled in later editions, the campaign for legalized abortion—The Feminine Mystique is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century… read today, [it] is as mesmerizing as it was more than four decades ago… The words have the hypnotic pull of a fairy tale, and for the next 400 pages, Friedan identifies, dissects and damningly indicts one of the most pervasive folk beliefs of postwar American life: the myth of suburban women’s domestic fulfillment she came to call the feminine mystique” (New York Times). The letter’s recipient, Hope Stoddard, was a noted musician, author and the associate editor of International Musician, published by the American Federation of Musicians. Through writings such as “Women’s Activities in the Field of Music” (IM, June 1948), Stoddard was a highly regarded expert in her field.

An especially fine copy, accompanied by a letter that offers rare insight into Freidan’s work.