Woman and Her Car by Leonard Henslowe first edition c1914

HENSLOWE, Leonard. Woman and Her Car.
 
London, The Gentlewoman, [c. 1914].
 
Octavo, 76 pp. followed by an appendix of xx pp. at rear; illustrated throughout with photographic plates, technical diagrams, and chassis plans, including full-page illustrations and contemporary motoring advertisements. Original publisher’s pictorial cloth, upper board and spine lettered and decorated in red and black, showing a woman driving an open touring car; light edge-wear and mild toning, but a clean, sound copy. Overall very good.
 
Written by the Motoring Editor of The Gentlewoman, this is an early practical handbook expressly addressed to women motorists. Henslowe treats in detail the choice of body types, hoods and windscreens, controls, starting mechanisms, braking, and basic mechanical understanding, emphasising ease of operation, reliability, and safety. The substantial appendix lists and discusses contemporary makes and models of cars suitable for women to drive. A book very much of its time.  
 
The work is undated; institutional catalogues variously assign dates between 1914 and 1916, but the entirely pre-war tone and absence of any reference to wartime conditions or service use strongly indicate publication immediately before the Great War.