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V24 2021 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 34, August 22, 2021, Article 10

MORE ON PANDORA'S BREECHES

Last week we discussed the symbolism of "Pandora's Breeches", an image on one of the "Three Thomas's" Middlesex token. Thanks again to Ray Williams for suggesting the topic. -Editor

1796 Middlesex Farthing Conder Token obverse 1796 Middlesex Farthing Conder Token reverse

Peter Jones writes:

"Just a comment about the three Thomases. All three, (Thomas Spence, Sir Thomas More, and Thomas Paine), were prosecuted by the British government for their writings.

"The stuffed woolen breeches, as far as I understand, were found in the House of Commons in 1792, trying to set the House on fire. They called them Pandora's breeches because all the ills in life (including the American Revolution) came from a Pandora's box."

Thanks. Peter also passed along an excerpt on the topic from his 2020 book, Colonial History in Your Hands .

Next up are some notes from Ron Haller-Williams. Thanks. -Editor

The book you mention must be Patricia Fara's "Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science & Power in the Enlightenment".

"Pandora in breeches is an abomination. Pandora is already a problem: the first woman, in Greek mythology, whose existence brings all sorts of problems to the (male) world. But Pandora in breeches means that Pandora is also trying to take over the male world. ..."

The author certainly seems familiar enough with the [series of] tokens - and the background. Ray Williams' query ("What is the symbolism for the pants on the reverse?") is answered in the Prologue:

"Had Guy Fawkes struck again? When smoke billowed through the lobby of the House of Commons on 9 May 1792, some smouldering breeches stuffed with straw were found crammed above a lavatory ceiling. Suspicion immediately fell on Thomas Paine, the well-known revolutionary who had just completed his (metaphorically) incendiary Rights of Man. 'Guy Vaux' caricatures sneered at Paine's calls for equality, ..."

"Pandora's breeches were a powerful symbol because the notion of a woman wearing trousers was outrageously funny, yet also frighteningly possible. The same year, the writer Mary Wollstonecraft published her own inflammatory book with a similar title to Paine's: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, ..."

P.S. This little lot was news to me, but I've now ordered the book, which I'm sure will be at least as interesting to my (non-numismatic) wife as it will be to me.

Thanks, everyone. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: COLONIAL HISTORY IN YOUR HANDS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n30a03.html)
QUERY: PANDORA'S BREECHES (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n33a12.html)

Lank E-Sylum ad 2021-07-11 MPC


Wayne Homren, Editor

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The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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