Books

Two volumes. Original decorated cloth designed by Mario Prassinos. Fine.FIRST EDITIONS. The two volumes were published months apart in 1949, each in an edition of 2000 numbered copies (from a total edition of 2,150). This landmark of feminism presents a scathing analysis of the history and treatment of women in the patriarchal West. Beauvoir begins by asking, "What is woman?" She argues that man is the default, while woman is Other: "Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not herself but as relative to him." "To state the question is, to me, to suggest, at once, a preliminary answer. The fact that I ask it is in itself significant. A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself, I must first of all say: 'I am a woman'; on this truth must be based all further discussion. A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man …" "The Second…