This post is about a series of books published in 1906 by D. Appleton & Co. and then reprinted in 1910 by The University Society: the Every Woman’s Library. They were edited by Margaret E. Sangster, Dr. Emma E. Walker, Hamilton W. Mabie and “others,” who all wrote for various women’s magazines of the time. If you’re interested in women’s history, social history, or just want to see what people were concerned with in the early 1900s, then looking through these books can be fun and/or infuriating.
Some Background
I first came across the book series by looking for interesting vintage books on Archive.org– there I found Volume 3, which then led me to look for the other volumes. Searching on Archive.org for “Every Woman’s Library” brought a lot of unrelated, but similar-sounding, books and no other volumes of the one I was looking for. In the end, tracking down the rest of the books took WAY longer than I expected.
Eventually I managed to find another volume on AbeBooks, and then I found an eBay listing of the entire set! It included photos of the titles and AUTHORS, so now I was able to track down scanned copies on Archive.org.
By doing that, I found an earlier, very similarly-named series, edited by Margaret E. Sangster, called the Woman’s Home Library, published 1904 by A.S. Barnes & Co. I’m like 95% sure this series was re-published/re-edited to become the Every Woman’s Library.
Comparing the two book lists, the titles/authors/content are nearly a 100% match! Well, it was very common for books to be published/republished under slightly different titles back then, so I’m not totally surprised. Some volumes were later republished again as their own independent books, too (for example, Women’s Ways of Earning Money was later republished by Sully and Kleintech). And of course there’s some additional volumes in Every Woman’s Library that aren’t in Woman’s Home Library.
I figured putting a list together of what I found would be useful for anyone else searching for the same info. Links go to PDF scans on Archive.org, Library of Congress, or HathiTrust where available.
Note: Some links here are affiliate links, which means if you click on it and buy something, I get a small percentage. This money goes towards running the blog. Thank you for your support!
Woman’s Home Library (1904)
“A Series of Practical Books on Practical Subjects by the Best Authorities”
- Volume 1: Women’s Ways of Earning Money by Cynthia Westover Alden (or a nicer scan of later reprint on HathiTrust)
- Volume 2: The Mother’s Manual by Emelyn L. Coolidge, M.D.
- Volume 3: Beauty Through Hygiene by Emma E. Walker, M.D.
- Volume 4: House and Home by Mary Elizabeth Carter
- Volume 5: The Courtesies by Eleanor B. Clapp
- Volume 6: Correct Writing and Speaking by Mary A. Jordan
Every Woman’s Library (1906/1910)
- Volume 1: Beauty and Health by Dr. Emma E. Walker
- Volume 2: Etiquette: A Book of Manners for Every-day Use by Eleanor B. Clapp (scan of later reprint)
- Volume 3: Entertainments and Games by Clara E. Laughlin
- Volume 4: House and Housekeeping by Mary Elizabeth Carter
- Volume 5: Home Reading and Study by Hamilton Wright Mabie and Henry Van Dyke
- Volume 6: Ideal Home Life by Margaret E. Sangster, Marion Harland and Others
- Volume 7: Women’s Ways of Earning Money by Cynthia Westover Alden
