The Electrical Handbook for Women.

The rare first edition, first impression, in the uncommon and stylish dust jacket by famed Art Deco illustrator Bip Pares.

The Electrical Handbook for Women was the 'cornerstone publication' of the Electrical Association for Women, which was founded in 1924 by engineer Caroline Haslett and other members of the Women's Engineering Society, 'in part to encourage the use of electricity in the home' (Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography). The contents are well-illustrated and include sections on the general principles of electrical technology, legal and regulatory issues, and technical details of applications like lighting, heating, cooking, and laundry.

Though edited by Haslett, the book's main author was electrical engineer Margaret Partridge (1891-1967), who began her career as a munitions worker during the First World War, then founded her own firm, M. Partridge & Co., Domestic Engineers. 'The new company focused on providing lighting and electric power for farm and country houses... In 1922 she put on an exhibition of electric models and machines in Exeter, including a range of labour-saving devices aimed at women in the home. It was predicted that her exhibition would "stir up the women of Exeter to demand the installation of electricity"' (The Woman Engineer, col. 1, no. 17, 1923). At the completion of her first rural electrification scheme in Brampton in 1926 she wrote to Haslett, 'My dear, for sheer exciting experience give me a town to light' (ODNB).

First edition; 8vo; photographic frontispiece and 19 plates of which 15 are double-sided, folding map, numerous diagrams and illustrations within the text, old tape residue to the free endpapers, spotting to the top edge of the text block and slightly to the fore-edge, short closed tear and associated creasing at the edge of the map; original blue cloth, titles to spine and EWA roundel to upper board in silver, boards slightly bowed, spine very slightly faded and rolled, a very good copy in the rubbed, creased, and dulled jacket with some small chips and short closed tears; 416pp.