First edition hardback, ex-library edition in good condition. Dame Ethel Mary Smyth DBE (22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. She was the first female composer granted a damehood. This life-story follows on the centenary of her birth; the author knew Ethel Smyth personally, and was able to draw on her life-long and voluminous correspondence . Pictorial dustcover, unclipped, edges very slightly worn and nicked. Brown cloth boards with very slight bumping along bottom and top edges. Library labels on front free endpaper and first free endpaper. "Withdrawn from circulation" stamp on page 65. Slight foxing to free endpapers , but pages are clean, with slightly discoloured edges. Slight crack along front hinge between front cover but hinge intact .