What Can a Woman Do?
She can sell books
Dear Readers,
I have another copy of What Can a Woman Do? — the 1890s guide for women in professions, and in the home. This smaller, new-to-me copy, above on the left, was made to sell copies of the book on the right. After I get through telling you about this version, I’ll try my hand at being a Lady Book Canvasser, and give you the names of some modern grain books, booklets & resources to read.
My dear pal Liz got this 20+ years ago in Albany. She could not resist the boxes of beautiful books that neighbors, antiquarian book dealers, put outside each trash night. She and I are enchanted by the olden days, so of course she rescued this and other treasures. She sent it to me this week. What a treat!
I wrote about this book earlier this summer, and was surprised to find that career recommendations were buffered by marshmallowy writing stating that women were meant to be mothers and steer the ship of the home. The sample was a condensed version used to sell copies of the book, and the included text overwhelmingly weighs toward these reassuring ideas. Yes, women can work outside the home, but her true labor is wrapped up in three magic words, 'mother, home and heaven,' as a chapter details.
The full book gives four pages to being a Lady Book Canvasser who would sell this and other books.
My sales copy only has one name at the back of it, in the beautiful ledger pages. Interestingly, the sales copy seems to have been made in Springfield, MA, and the book was made in Petersburgh, NY, not far from me. The one sales the lady or other book canvasser recorded lived in Petersburgh — a soft sell. I found another sales copy of What Can a Woman Do? on a bookseller’s website; although it sold, they handily left a description.
Here are a few sales pitches within the sales copy:
Did salespeople read these aloud?
What would it have been like to go door to door, and town to town in the late 1800s? One job that’s always fascinated me was the work of putting together the city directories I love to study. The canvassers must have gone around in the evening, when people were home, to get the names of people and their jobs. Did the public receive these inquiries easily? Respond willingly? That certainly wasn’t the case when I worked for the US Census.
I have some contemporary book & grain news too.
The Hungry Ghost Bread Book: An Offbeat Bakery’s Guide to Crafting Sourdough Loaves, Flatbreads, Crackers, Scones, and More is now available! Jonathan Stevens tells the story of the Northampton, MA bakery he runs with his partner Cheryl Maffei — the book includes recipes and poems. Hungry Ghost is having a bread festival 9/29, and sooner than that you can see meet the book and the baker at the Boston book launch, 9/8 at Elmendorf Baking Supplies.
Katie Gourley’s booklet Baking for Biodiversity is available again. This is a terrific guide to baking with whole grains and stretching your repertoire to fit the broad needs of the ecosystem we share with creatures and plants. Check out her other zines and downloads, too. Really beautiful writing and work.
Make pasta with Ground Up Grain. Boy do these classes sound fun! You’ll get to mill flour and make pasta on their machine, and take some home. Ground Up is in Holyoke, MA and makes stone milled flour from regional grains. I’m a big fan.
Check out Chelsea Green’s end of summer book sale for deep discounts on most of their titles, like my book, The New Bread Basket and many others I love: Richard Miscovich’s From the Wood Fired Oven, Jack Lazor’s Organic Grain Grower’s Guide, and Sandor Katz’s fermentation books!
There you go, bread fans! Do you have any reading or bread news to share? I’d love to know.
Your Lady Book Canvasser,
Amy