“There is a new edition of “Who’s Who” – in which I see put down a list of things I have written, & it appals me even to read it! No wonder I am tired.”

(Josephine Butler, letter to Rhoda Butler, 30 Oct. 1901)

Josephine Butler was a prolific writer, of letters, books and pamphlets.  She spent several hours of every day writing.

Major works by Josephine Butler  

(ed.) Woman’s work and woman’s culture , 1869;

The constitution violated, 1871;

Memoir of John Grey of Dilston, 1874;

Une voix dans le desert, 1875;

Catharine of Siena, 1878;

Social Purity, 1879;

The hour before the dawn, 1882;

The Salvation Army in Switzerland, 1883;

Life of J.F. Oberlin, 1883;

Rebecca Jarrett, 1885;

Recollections of George Butler, 1892;

Personal reminiscences of a great crusade, 1898;

Truth before Everything, 1898;

Prophets and prophetesses, 1898;

Native races and the War, 1900;

In memoriam, Harriet Meuricoffre, 1901

The Morning Cometh, 1903

All her books are out of print, but are available in libraries, especially the Women’s Library, based since 2013 at the London School of Economics.  [http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/Home.aspx]

The Women’s Library also holds the largest collection of her letters (ref: 3JBL), which are accessible via the online catalogue.   Other important archival collections are held in Liverpool University Library  [http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/Home.aspx]    and the Northumberland Archives, Woodhorn,
Ashington, Northumberland. [http://www.experiencewoodhorn.com/collections/]

Ingrid Sharp and Jane Jordan (eds.) Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns (2002) is a five-volume anthology  of letters, documents and books relating to Josephine Butler’s campaigns, arranged thematically. It includes a full Bibliography of  Josephine Butler’s publications (vol.1, pp.24-26).

Some of Josephine Butler’s writings have been transcribed for the Victorian Women Writers project [http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/vwwp/welcome.do].