Search preferences
Skip to main search results

Search filters

Product Type

  • All Product Types 
  • Books (22)
  • Magazines & Periodicals (1)
  • Comics (No further results match this refinement)
  • Sheet Music (No further results match this refinement)
  • Art, Prints & Posters (No further results match this refinement)
  • Photographs (No further results match this refinement)
  • Maps (No further results match this refinement)
  • Manuscripts & Paper Collectibles (No further results match this refinement)

Condition Learn more

Language (3)

Price

Custom price range (£)

Seller Location

  • Cowell, Roberta.

    Published by Wien, Zsolnay., 1954

    Seller: Manfred Nosbuesch, Kuchenheim, Germany

    Association Member: ILAB VDA

    Seller rating 3 out of 5 stars 3-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 8.89

    £ 12.95 shipping
    Ships from Germany to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    211 S. Mit Abbildungen. Orig.-Leinwand mit Orig.-Umschlag. Gutes Exemplar.

  • £ 12.45

    £ 10.36 shipping
    Ships from Germany to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    211 S. Orig.-Leinen mit SchU.

  • Cowell, Roberta

    Published by P. Zsolnay Verlag, Wien 1954., 1954

    Seller: Versandantiquariat Dr. Peter Rudolf, Berlin, Germany

    Association Member: GIAQ

    Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars 4-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 13.33

    £ 18.13 shipping
    Ships from Germany to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Original-Leinen, 210 S.; mit mehreren Tafeln.

  • Cowell, Roberta:

    Language: English

    Published by Wien, P. Zsolnay Verlag, 1954

    Seller: DieBücheroma123, Prackenbach, Germany

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 15.07

    £ 21.66 shipping
    Ships from Germany to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Gebundene Ausgabe. Condition: Gut. ohne Schutzumschlag 77838x Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 500.

  • Cowell, Roberta:

    Language: German

    Published by Wien, P. Zsolnay Verlag, 1954

    Seller: Antiquariat Armebooks, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 14.53

    £ 17.26 shipping
    Ships from Germany to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    hardcover. Condition: Gut. Seiten; Zsolnay - 1. Auf. 1954 : Roberta Cowell - gb + Su - 9-49-5-L5 D5-8J18-MNWQ Sprache: Deutsch Gewicht in Gramm: 500.

  • Cowell, Roberta ( 1918-2010 )

    Published by Freeland, Buenos Aires, 1954

    Seller: Librería Monte Sarmiento, Santiago, SANTI, Chile

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 16

    £ 28.34 shipping
    Ships from Chile to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Encuadernación de tapa blanda. Condition: Bien. 1Ş Edición. 141 p. ; 20x15 cm., ilustraciones b/n, retrs. Pequeña rotura en borde superior de cubierta afectando nombre del autor. PRO-7°.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Story: By herself for sale by Chapter 1

    Cowell, Roberta

    Language: English

    Published by William Heinemann Ltd, 1954

    Seller: Chapter 1, Johannesburg, GAU, South Africa

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 199.74

    £ 21.58 shipping
    Ships from South Africa to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. First Edition. Preface by Canon Millbourn. Publication of 154 pages. Frontispiece. The dust jacket is worn, chipped pieces and old tape residue marks. The boards are a touch edge worn, remain in good condition. Internally the pages are clean and complete. Tightly bound and presented in cellophane. The binding is excellent. GK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Story [Inscribed] for sale by Dividing Line Books

    COWELL, Roberta

    Language: English

    Published by William Heinemann, London, 1954

    Seller: Dividing Line Books, Ridgewood, NY, U.S.A.

    Association Member: ESA IOBA

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition Signed

    £ 845.06

    Free Shipping
    Ships within U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. London: William Heinemann, 1954. First edition. Preface by Canon Millbourn. xi, 154pp; frontis; plates. Blue cloth stamped in silver to spine; lacking the jacket. Boards rather rubbed, lightly bowed, and with bumping to corners; binding a little loose, but secure. Good. Signed, inscribed, and dated in year of publication by Cowell to front endpaper: "To Charles: Without whose help this book would not have been written. Very Sincerely, Roberta (Betty) Cowell July, 1954." Presentation copy of this trailblazing trans memoir by English race car driver and WWII fighter pilot Roberta Cowell (1918-2011). Though we have not established the identity of Cowell's inscribee, we hypothesize that it may have been Charles Eugene Dusseau, a doctor who in 1951 was responsible for having name and gender revised on Cowell's birth certificate, thus making her the first person to have their gender officially changed in the UK? an event seemingly worthy of the sincere gratitude offered here: "without whose help this book would not have been written." Cowell is also notable for being among the first trans people in the UK to undergo gender affirming surgery, carried out in her case by physician and author Michael Dillon (1915-1962), himself a trans man; the two enjoyed a close, if unequal friendship, which culminated in Cowell rejecting a marriage proposal from Dillon. Cowell's memoir propelled her to sudden fame, after several years of which she retired into relative obscurity for the rest of her life. An uncommon first, rarely encountered signed. Inscribed by Author(s).

  • COWELL, ROBERTA & MILLBOURN, CANON (Preface)

    Published by William Heinemann 1954, 1954

    Seller: Hard to Find Books NZ (Internet) Ltd., Dunedin, OTAGO, New Zealand

    Association Member: IOBA

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 44.80

    £ 19.90 shipping
    Ships from New Zealand to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    FIRST EDITION, octavo, blue buckram boards, silver gilt lettering to spine, frontispiece, xi + 154pp, illus/photos, VG (light warping & rubbing to spine, light scuffing & bruising to board extrems/edges, light warping & moderate soiling to boards, light to moderate tanning & foxing to page edges, light tanning & foxing to eps, minro insect damage to head of rear ep) in d/w, G+ (price clipped, heavy tearing to spine- rear cover hanging on bravely, heavy creasing & chipping/tearing to edges, light to moderate tanning & soiling).

  • COWELL, Roberta

    Published by Zsolnay, Wien, 1954

    Seller: Löcker & Heck GmbH, Wien, Austria

    Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars 4-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 13.33

    £ 53.51 shipping
    Ships from Austria to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    in-8, 211pp, 24 Tafelabb., OLn. London 1918-, Jagdflieger im 2.Weltkrieg, 1952 zur Frau erklärt.

  • Cowell, Roberta

    Published by William Heinemann Ltd., Melbourne, London & Toronto, 1954

    Seller: BOOKMARK, Auckland, New Zealand

    Seller rating 3 out of 5 stars 3-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 67.20

    £ 20.14 shipping
    Ships from New Zealand to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Hb. Condition: VG. Dust Jacket Condition: None. First Edition. A colourful life of a Spitfire Pilot, Racing Car driver and the first one of a few people in the United Kingdom to undergo Gender Reassignment. Clean dark charcoal grey cloth on boards with silver titles. Spine: a slight concave dip down the spine; light rubbing to head & foot. Edges: light foxings. Eps: faint foxings. Clean contents. B/w illustrations. Binding is VG+. 154p.

  • Seller image for YO FUI HOMBRE. Mi transformación de hombre a mujer for sale by Buenos Aires Libros

    Cowell, Roberta

    Published by Freeland, 141 pgs., Buenos Aires, 1954

    Seller: Buenos Aires Libros, Buenos Aires, BA, Argentina

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 76.82

    £ 16.41 shipping
    Ships from Argentina to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Rústica. Condition: Buen estado. Primer libro editado sobre travestismo. Robert Cowell, fue hasta 1951 un hombre. En mayo de ese año, luego de una serie de intervenciones quirúrgicas cambió de sexo. Hasta ese momento su vida como hombre había sido perfectamente normal, desempeñándose como piloto de la R.A.F. (Fuerza Aérea Británica). Corredor de automóviles en carreras de pista y era casado y con dos hijos. Esta autobiografía nos pone al corriente de muchas anormalidades del sexo. Ilustrado con láminas en b/n. Pocas marcas de lectura en lápiz rojo. [Libro en Español / Book in Spanish] === BIOGRAFIAS === Size: 8vo.

  • Roberta Cowell

    Published by William Heinemann

    Seller: Chapter Two Books, Ammanford, United Kingdom

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 99.99

    £ 15.99 shipping
    Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Hardcover. Condition: Good. First edition with green boards and white lettering on spine. No dust jacket. Light tanning/foxing to page edges.

  • COWELL, ROBERTA

    Published by FREELAND, 1954

    Seller: Librería Kattigara, Santander, S, Spain

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 52.27

    £ 99.26 shipping
    Ships from Spain to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Buen estado de conservación, cubierta con pequeñas faltas en los bordes, cortes irregulares, sello de importador.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Story for sale by World of Rare Books

    Roberta Cowell

    Published by William Heinemann Ltd, 1954

    Seller: World of Rare Books, Goring-by-Sea, SXW, United Kingdom

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 145.80

    £ 4.82 shipping
    Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Condition: Good. 1954. First Edition. 154 pages. Illustrated dust jacket over blue cloth boards with lettering. Contains black and white illustrations. Clean pages and illustrations with light tanning. More pronounced to free endpapers and pastedowns. Minor water staining to top edges textblock. Binding remains firm. Boards have mild edge wear with slight rubbing to surfaces and bumping to corners. Lettering is clear. Minor wear and water marks to boards. Unclipped jacket. Panels and spine have light edge wear with tears and creases. Ink stamp on flap. Moderate tanning and wear marks to flaps, panels and spine.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Own Story ( In 3 Parts ) for sale by WHITE EAGLE BOOKS, PBFA,IOBA,West London

    Cowell, Roberta

    Published by London, Picture Post, 1954, 1954

    Seller: WHITE EAGLE BOOKS, PBFA,IOBA,West London, London, United Kingdom

    Association Member: IOBA PBFA

    Seller rating 3 out of 5 stars 3-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 250

    £ 31.50 shipping
    Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1st Edition. 50,60 & 48 pages. Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1st Edition. 50,60,48 pages. Very good pictorial paper covers. 3 no. This is a very rare unique set of 3 Picture Post Magazines from 1954 that tell the story of Roberta Cowell, the first person to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the UK. When this series of articles were published they created a huge sensation and Roberta Cowell became famous around the world. Roberta's story features on several pages in each of the magazines. Three of them were published consecutively and tell her life story. The fourth magazine ( not available ) was published a few weeks later and is a follow up. All the magazines are complete and have minor wear in keeping with their age.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Own Story Story ( 4 Parts ) for sale by WHITE EAGLE BOOKS, PBFA,IOBA,West London

    Cowell Roberta

    Published by London, Picture Post, 1954, 1954

    Seller: WHITE EAGLE BOOKS, PBFA,IOBA,West London, London, United Kingdom

    Association Member: IOBA PBFA

    Seller rating 3 out of 5 stars 3-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    Magazine / Periodical First Edition

    £ 450

    £ 31.50 shipping
    Ships from United Kingdom to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1st Edition. 50,60,48 & 56 pages. Very good pictorial paper covers. 4 no. This is a very rare unique set of 4 Picture Post Magazines from 1954 that tell the story of Roberta Cowell, the first person to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the UK. When this series of articles were published they created a huge sensation and Roberta Cowell became famous around the world. Roberta's story features on several pages in each of the magazines. Three of them were published consecutively and tell her life story. The fourth magazine was published a few weeks later and is a follow up. All the magazines are complete and have minor wear in keeping with their age. Three of the magazines are in very good condition. The cover of one magazine has been repaired with tape, so we have classified them as good condition overall.

  • COWELL, Roberta

    Published by British Book Centre, Inc, New York, 1954

    Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.

    Association Member: ABAA ESA ILAB IOBA

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 768.23

    £ 4.10 shipping
    Ships within U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good.

  • Seller image for ROBERTA COWELL'S STORY for sale by Type Punch Matrix

    Cowell, Roberta

    Published by British Book Center, Inc, New York, 1954

    Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.

    Association Member: ABAA ILAB

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 960.29

    Free Shipping
    Ships within U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Dust Jacket Condition: dj. First printing. First US edition of one of the earliest autobiographies published by a woman to have undergone sex reassignment surgery. While scholar Sandy Stone claims in her landmark 1991 essay "The Transsexual Empire Strikes Back" that Hedy Jo Star's I CHANGED MY SEX! (1962) was the "first fully autobiographical book" by a transgender person, that first is better claimed by Roberta Cowell, whose memoir appeared eight years earlier in both the UK and US. Stone's article distinguished between works like Star's or Cowell's and prior works like MAN INTO WOMAN by Lili Elbe (various editions, 1931-1933), which was heavily edited posthumously from diaries. Cowell's book therefore arguably represents just the second published work by a person to have successfully undergone SRS. It was preceded, as far as our research indicates, only by Michael Dillon's SELF - which was not autobiographical - eight years earlier. Indeed, Dillon himself was instrumental in Cowell's transition. The two met after Cowell read Dillon's landmark work, which was "the first sustained argument for technologically mediated sex change" (Hausman). Cowell recounts in STORY: "Then came the surprise, a surprise so shattering that the scene will be crystal-clear in my memory for the rest of my life. He sat there, sucking at his pipe and toying with his coffee cup. He was silent for a minute or two, and I was idly wondering how long that beard of his had taken to grow. Suddenly, 'I don't really see why I shouldn't tell you,' he said, 'but five years ago I was a woman.' Such a possibility had never entered my head for one moment. As I looked at him now it seemed absolutely and utterly fantastic, quite unbelievable, but I was not then fully aware of all that modem medical science could do." Dillon subsequently became the doctor to undertake the first of Cowell's gender confirmation surgeries, a procedure done under the strictest secrecy due to so-called "mayhem" laws. A subsequent surgery allowed Cowell to formally change her birth certificate, but after the initial publicity surrounding her transition, Cowell largely retreated from public life. However, she paid a heavy price: once a military officer, pilot, and successful professional race car driver, she struggled financially the rest of her life before dying in 2011 - her funeral reportedly attended by only six people. An important work from a transgender pioneer. While we've handled the UK first a few times, this is the first we've encountered the US edition, which seems decidedly more scarce. 8'' x 5.25''. Original full blue cloth. In original unclipped ($3.00) jacket. Illustrated in two inserted sections with black-and-white photographs. 208 pages. Contemporary owner inscription penned to front endpaper. A couple small, faint dampstains to rear panel, unobtrusive. Some edgewear, with spot rubbed away to foot of spine; crease to front flap. Bottom edge of boards a bit scuffed. Overall, bright and sound. Very good plus in very good jacket.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Story by Herself for sale by The Book Merchant Jenkins, ANZAAB / ILAB

    Roberta Cowell

    Published by William Heinemann, London, 1954

    Seller: The Book Merchant Jenkins, ANZAAB / ILAB, Brooks Bay, TAS, Australia

    Association Member: ANZAAB ILAB IOBA

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 601.25

    £ 20.88 shipping
    Ships from Australia to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. 22cm x 14.5cm. xi, 154 pages, frontispiece, [26] pages of black and white illustrations. Blue cloth, silver lettering, illustrated jacket. Scarce autobiography of British race car driver, WWII fighter pilot, and first known British trans woman to undergo gender-affirming surgery in 1948 after Michael Dillon (British physician and the first trans man to undergo FtM surgery) performed an inguinal orchiectomy (removal of the testicles) on Cowell. Very Good Condition in Good Jacket. Minor tanning and very minor foxing. Previous owner's name (written multiple times). Clipped jacket with chunk from spine tail. Category: LGBTIQ+ Gender Diversity; Inventory No: 0033080.

  • ROBERTA COWELL

    Seller: EL RINCÓN ESCRITO, Villanueva de las Carretas, BU, Spain

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    £ 44.45

    £ 11.22 shipping
    Ships from Spain to U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Traducción del inglés por Lydia y José García Díaz. Editorial Freeland, Buenos Aires, 1954, rústica ilustrada, frontis, 8ş mayor, 141 p., 211 g. Ilustraciones en b/n fuera de paginación, señales de uso en cubiertas, sello de caucho, buen estado. autobiografías, transexualidad.

  • Seller image for Roberta Cowell's Story by Herself for sale by Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

    Cowell, Roberta; Canon Millbourn [Preface]

    Published by William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1954

    Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.

    Association Member: ABAA CBA ILAB

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 1,152.35

    Free Shipping
    Ships within U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    First edition. First edition. xii, 154 pp. Bound in publisher's navy cloth with silver spine lettering. About Very Good with light dampstaining to cloth along bottom edge, slightly musty smell, a little foxing along top edge, in About Very Good dust jacket with toned spine panel, head and tail chipped, dampstaining along bottom edge. Uncommon. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies Genny Bemyn calls this "an account by the woman who had the first known vaginoplasty in England and who was legally recognized as female in 1951. Being the first British trans woman to undergo surgery and having achieved some fame previously as a race car driver, Cowell's transition made headlines in Britain.".

  • Seller image for 1950s Transgender Race Car Driver Roberta Cowell Autobiography, "the first trans woman in Britain to undergo gender reassignment surgery" for sale by Max Rambod Inc

    Roberta Cowell

    Publication Date: 1954

    Seller: Max Rambod Inc, Woodland Hills, CA, U.S.A.

    Association Member: ABAA ILAB PADA

    Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars 5-star rating, Learn more about seller ratings

    Contact seller

    First Edition

    £ 215.11

    £ 7.46 shipping
    Ships within U.S.A.

    Quantity: 1 available

    Add to basket

    Dust Jacket Condition: dj. First Edition. [LGBTQ] Cowell, Roberta. Roberta Cowell's Story. New York: British Book Centre, 1954. First edition, dust jacket missing. 208 pages. Measures 5.5" x 8.25". Autobiography of Roberta Cowell, who was born as Robert Cowell in 1918. At a young age, she developed a passion for motor racing and engineering, and studied engineering at University College London. As a student, Roberta started motor racing, winning the Land's End Speed Trial and later competing in the 1939 Antwerp Grand Prix. She later founded a motor racing team and competed in events all across Europe. In 1940, she joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant and in 1942 became a pilot with the RAF. By 1948, Cowell, plagued with depression and trauma from the war, sought help from a psychiatrist to discuss her struggle with gender identity. Within her autobiography, she notes that her "unconscious mind was predominantly female". To set her life on the path she desired, she began to take female hormones and ultimately became "the first trans woman in Britain to undergo gender reassignment surgery". By 1957, she reentered the racing scene as a woman, until she was eventually banned. This autobiography covers her life from her own perspective and includes 16 pages of printed photographs. Slight wear near head and foredge of bright blue cover, but textblock is tight and neat. Minor foxing on back pastedown and flyleaf. Book is inspiring and in very good condition. Roberta Cowell is now remembered as "one of the truly pioneering and pivotal figures in British LGBTQ history".