8vo (121 x 84 mm). Woodcut title border dated 1534, woodcut historiated initial; occasional soiling, outer-margins shaved with occasional losses to side notes, repairs to A_2-3, F₃ with some text supplied in facsimile, F-G gatherings split along bottom gutter, marginal repair to G₃ not affecting text, lacking final blank. Nineteenth-century calf to style, blind tooling to covers, gilt inner dentelles, edges stained red; extremities rubbed, front joints cracked but holding, some soiling to rear cover. 

Frauncis Demay(?) (contemporary signature to colophon)

ESTC S104365; Barbara Gold & Charles Platter, 'Sex and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Texts: The Latin Tradition', 1997; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2009  

8vo (121 x 84 mm). Woodcut title border dated 1534, woodcut historiated initial; occasional soiling, outer-margins shaved with occasional losses to side notes, repairs to A2-3, F3 with some text supplied in facsimile, F-G gatherings split along bottom gutter, marginal repair to G3 not affecting text, lacking final blank. Nineteenth-century calf to style, blind tooling to covers, gilt inner dentelles, edges stained red; extremities rubbed, front joints cracked but holding, some soiling to rear cover.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

The first English edition of Agrippa's treatise on the rights — and superiority — of women, an early articulation of some of the core tenets of modern feminism.Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) was one of Renaissance Europe's leading, albeit controversial, intellectual figures. He wrote a number of works on magic and the occult sciences, which Mary Shelley would later cite as an important influence in the early intellectual life of a young Victor Frankenstein. His work in the occult sciences, in tandem with his attack on human learning ('On the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Arts and Sciences', 1530), led some more pious readers to regard him as "a sorcerer and associate of demons, detested by others as an irreverent mocker and subverter of religion and good morals" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).  

Agrippa's 'De nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus', represents an early and important entry into an emerging genre of "defenses of women" produced in Renaissance Europe. 'De nobilitate' was written in 1509 but not published until 1529, with David Clapham's English translation following in 1542. The book is structured in four parts: an analysis of Genesis as the basis for Christian misogyny, an enumeration of the God-given superior qualities of women, a catalogue of famous women from the Bible and antiquity who exemplify those qualities, and a reflection on contemporary restrictions placed upon women. "Agrippa argues that the contemporary treatment of women is contrary to both divine and natural laws. According to him, laws, customs, and education all contribute to the suppression of women. Changing such human constructs is his implicit goal... Not content with proving that women are equal, he enthusiastically sets out to prove their inherent superiority to men" (Gold and Platter, pp. 189-190).   

It was dismissed for generations as an expression of Agrippa's paradoxical intellectual program, but contemporary feminist scholars have argued that it should be taken seriously insofar as it anticipates some of the core tenets of modern feminism. Indeed, his program is clear from the opening pages, where he states: "[God] hath given but one similitude and lykeness of the sowle both male and female, between whose sowles there is noo maner dyfference of kind. The woman hathe that same mynd that a man hath, that same reason and speche, she goeth to the same end of blyssfulness, where shall be noo exception of kynde."

Exceedingly rare on the market — we can locate no other copies having appeared at auction.