"NO LOVE, NO LABOR, NO SELF-SACRIFICE EVEN, CAN BALANCE THAT SCALE IN WHICH JUSTICE HAS NO PLACE": FIRST EDITION OF REFORMER HELEN CAMPBELL'S PRISONERS OF POVERTY, 1887

CAMPBELL, Helen. Prisoners of Poverty. Women Wage-Workers, Their Trades and Their Lives. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1887. Octavo, original tan cloth, patterned endpapers. $350.

First edition of this powerful reporting and indictment of working conditions in late 19th-century New York, particularly for women and children.

Originally a series of articles for the New York Tribune in 1886 by journalist and reformer Helen Campbell, this book strives to show the real working conditions of women New Yorkers (and child laborers) just before the turn of the century. Campbell's articles were an immediate success. Some have credited Campbell with sparking widespread interest in social reform as well as pioneering journalistic investigation into the plight of the poor. Contemporary owner gift inscription.

Rear inner paper hinge split, front inner paper hinge repaired, only a few spots of soiling to interior, light rubbing and soiling to cloth, mild discoloration to spine. An extremely good copy.