[Queen's College, Westminster, London; the first institution in the world to award academic qualifications to women.] The first volume from the College?s own archive; containing around 340 pieces of unique ephemera.

A unique and irreplaceable item in the field of women?s education: the earliest archives of the first institution in the world to award academic qualifications to women (or, as Mrs Alec Tweedie put it in 1898, ?The first College open to Women?), founded in 1848 by theologian and social reformer Frederick Denison Maurice. Consisting of around 340 different pieces of printed ephemera, dating from between 1853 and 1912. Laid down in a nineteenth-century album, with cloth spine and marbled boards, of 102pp, folio. Openings numbered 1-52, with leaf 43/44 lacking. Damaged label on front reads ?Archives / I?. Some of the items are accompanied by duplicates (for example nine copies of a poem by C. E. Maurice of which no other copy has been traced, titled ?QUEEN?S COLLEGE, 1848-1898?, and beginning: ?Fifty years have rolled away, | Fifty years of strife and pain; | Fifty years of victory, | Victory won without a stain.?). Duplicates are sometimes laid down on top of one another, but could be separated with a wet sponge. Inserted in the volume is a manuscript thumb-index of 11pp, 8vo. The album contains application forms, prospectuses, class lists, notices of appointments, lecture lists, invitations and cards, tickets, programmes, timetables (a couple filled in in manuscript), syllabuses, rules and regulations, forms, council resolutions and around a dozen newspaper cuttings (including one from ?The Queen?, May 1909, headed ?The annual gathering at Queen?s College, Harley-street.?), reproduced with a range of different printing methods, from letterpress to mimeograph. (A large and attractive ?Programme of Concert? by the College Orchestra under Professor Henry Gadsby, 27 May 1907, is the work of the ?Women?s Printing Society, Limited, 66 & 68 Whitcomb Street, London.?). The earliest items are two circulars by F. D. Maurice, dated 15/20 November and 15 December 1853. The first (4pp, 12mo; two copies) reproduces a letter from Maurice to the College committee, with Richard Chenevix Trench?s reply as chairman. In the second (1p, 12mo; two copies) Maurice expresses thanks for the ?beautiful Inkstand? which he has been given as a gift. Another early item is a four-page 12mo bifoliate, dated 19 December 1866 and headed: ?Queen?s College, London. | 43 & 45, Harley Street, W. | A Meeting of past and present Pupils was held on December 19th, 1866, to present the Rev. F. D. MAURICE with a Testimonial of their gratitude and affection. The chair was taken by the Rev. E. H. Plumptre, M.A., Dean, who spoke as follows: - | [...]?. Also present are two study guides: ?The Invasion of England in 1745. Contemporary Records. Printed for the use of the students of Queen?s College. 1886? (12pp, 12mo); and ?Materials for the Study of English History. From the Restoration to the Death of Queen Anne (1660-1714) / Printed for private circulation? (36pp, 12mo). (No copy of either item traced.) Also pamphlets titled ?Queen?s College, London / Papers set at the annual examination July, 1902? (47pp, 12mo; Women?s Printing Society, London); and ?Queen?s College, London / Questions set by external examiners at the close of Easter Term, 1903? (59pp, 12mo). Mimeographed items include: ?Suggestions from the Dean? over two foolscap pages (undated but before 1890); a consultation document from C. E. Lewer to professors, dated 1 June 1909.