The March of the Women by Ethel Smyth and Cicely Hamilton WSPU 1911

[Women's Social and Political Union]; SMYTH, Ethel (music); HAMILTON, Cicely (words). The March of the Women. Three contemporary song-sheet editions.
 
London, J. Curwen & Sons Ltd.; The Woman’s Press; [unauthorised issue], 1911.
 
Three song sheets, comprising:
 
Curwen Edition, dedicated to the Women’s Social and Political Union, 250 × 170 mm, printed on standard music paper, with full vocal score and imprint of J. Curwen & Sons Ltd., London.
Woman’s Press edition, 120 × 190 mm, printed on thick card, issued by the Woman’s Press, 156 Charing Cross Road, with advertisements on the reverse for suffrage publications and music, priced at one penny.
Unauthorised or pirated edition, 120 × 190 mm, printed on thin, inferior paper stock, lacking formal publisher’s imprint.
 
Condition varies from good to very good, with light creasing, edge wear, and small losses, particularly to the thinner paper example; and a horizontal crease to the curwen edition. 
 
Three different song sheets that were used to disseminate the words to the principal anthem of militant suffragism. Smyth’s setting, explicitly dedicated to the WSPU, was designed for communal singing and political mobilisation. When the WSPU sheets ran out the other two sheets stepped in to meet demand. It is rare to find all three.