The Waves

New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1943. Good. Lacking dust jacket. Light spotting to endpapers, extremities rubbed, small surface abrasion to upper board. Paper repair to upper hinge.. First edition of one of the earliest accounts of "WAVES" (short for "Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service"). This group of women were officially recognized as a branch of the U.S. Naval Reserve, and were among the first women in uniform during WWII. The book provides an overview of their function and activities, and acknowledges nascent change in society's gender roles as the war develops: "When large numbers of women are asked by an arm of the military to accept a responsibility equal to a man's, and for the first time in history with equal pay-- accompanied by none of the old chivalric trimmings-- you may be sure some subtle change is in the wind" (p. 2). Includes twelve pages of photographs of the women at work. Single vol. (8" by 5.5"), pp. x, 214, with six leaves of photographic illustrations inserted, in original blue cloth, spine stamped in white, contemporary inscription in ink manuscript to front free endpaper: "To the best sister a girl ever had. Ev." Lacking dust jacket.