Woman to the Rescue: A Story of the New Crusade by T.S. Arthur

Book Details

• Title: Woman to the Rescue: A Story of the New Crusade
• Author: T. S. Arthur
• Signed: No
• Publisher: Arthur’s Select Works Publishing House (Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis & San Francisco)
• Edition: First Edition (Arthur’s Select Works series)
• Publication Year: 1874 (copyright entry by J. M. Stoddart & Co.)
• Binding: Publisher’s blue cloth with elaborate black-stamped decorations; gilt titling to spine; illustrated
• Dust Jacket Condition: N/A (as issued)
• Condition: Fair to Good — boards rubbed with edge/corner wear; fraying at spine ends; inner hinges cracked with separation and exposed mull (see photos); text block holding; pages toned with scattered foxing/handling; engraved plates present
• Illustrator/Editor/Preface: Illustrated with engraved plates (e.g., “In the Stronghold”); no illustrator credited
• Rarity / Collectibility: Significant temperance-era novel highlighting the women’s “New Crusade” (early 1870s) that foreshadowed the W.C.T.U.; companion in spirit to Arthur’s Ten Nights in a Bar-Room; desirable for collectors of temperance and social-reform literature.

Description

Woman to the Rescue (1874) is T. S. Arthur’s novel of the “New Crusade,” dramatizing the destructive effects of alcohol on families and the pivotal role women played in local temperance campaigns of the early 1870s. Best known for Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, Arthur here turns his reformist lens toward organized women’s action—home visits, saloon petitions, and community prayer—capturing the moral urgency and social energy that soon helped galvanize national temperance work. Period engravings amplify the narrative’s domestic and street-level scenes.

Condition Notes

• Blue decorative cloth with black stamped ornament; gilt spine title present.
• Rubbing and soiling to boards; corners bumped; fray and small losses at head/heel of spine.
• Front and rear inner hinges cracked with exposed mull; binding still holding but delicate.
• Text pages evenly toned with scattered foxing; typical handling wear for age.
• Engraved plates intact.

Please review all photos for exact condition of boards, spine, hinges, and interiors.