Difesa dell’ ingegno delle donne e della loro attitudine pel governo, E per le altre cariche pubbliche. Ragionamento Accademico di donna Giuseppa Amar e Borbon Accademica della Real Società Aragonese degli Amici del Paese tradotto dallo spagnuolo dall’ Ab. Gianfranc. Masdeu A richiesta d’un sincero Encomiatore della coltissima Ragionatrice.
Roma: Per Luigi Perego Savioni Stampator Vaticano incontro la fabbrica de S. Agostino, [1789]. First Italian edition. In contemporary green blank wrappers. In fine condition.
Contemporary Italian translation of a scarce Spanish proto-feminist work.
Josefa Amar y Borbón (1749–1833) was born in Madrid into a family of physicians on her father's side. She received an unusually broad education for a woman outside the aristocracy, learning Latin, Greek, and several modern languages. After marrying, she moved to Zaragoza and became involved with local Enlightenment and reformist circles.
Amar y Borbón translated French, Italian, and English texts into Spanish and published several original works. The present text, originally titled Discurso sobre el talento de las mujeres (1786), contributed significantly to Enlightenment debates on gender equality and argued for the admission of women into the Sociedades Económicas de Amigos del País (Economic Societies of Friends of the Country), associations aimed at fostering Spain’s economic and intellectual development. It first appeared in the periodical Memorial literario.
She later published Discurso sobre la educación física y moral de las mujeres (1790), a comprehensive pedagogical treatise on women's education in Spain. Amar was admitted to the Real Sociedad Económica of Aragón (1782) and Madrid (1787), the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito (a royal philanthropic organization), and the Royal Medical Society of Barcelona, recognizing her role in advancing medical knowledge among the general public. (Bolufer, 2013)
Scarce: WorldCat locates only two copies (Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome; Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen).
Literature: Bolufer M. (2013). "Josefa Amar y Borbón, Spanish writer, scholar and translator, 1749–1833." Women Writers.
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Price: €4,000.00