Birmingham-born, (Anne) Constance Smedley (1876-1941) was an artist and author, founder of the International Lyceum Clubs for Women Artists and Writers. With pan-European, democratic and non-hierarchic aspirations, she helped women to open clubhouses in Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Florence, alongside the original London base, thereby establishing institutional support for professional women. A prolific author, for both adults and children, significant works included her early play Mrs Jordan (which Mrs Patrick Campbell successfully staged), her reporting of suffrage militancy for the Daily Mail and the anonymously authored feminist polemic, Women: A few shrieks by X (1907). Smedley's marriage to fellow artist and author, Maxwell Ashby Armfield (1881-1972) was also unconventional and creative. Armfield cared for Smedley, who had been left unable to walk unaided through childhood polio, and took male lovers. The couple sustained an "intense working relationship, and romantic friendship, [which] led to fertile collaboration in literature and theatre" (ODNB). They set up the Cotswold Players, established the Greenleaf Theatre in London, and later, in the US, a course for community drama. The couple was involved in the avant-garde and pacifist community centred on Margaret Morris' theatre on the King's Road, a circle which brought the pair into contact with Vernon Lee, Edward McKnight Kauffer, as well as fellow author, Henrietta Leslie (see QB item ref: 2389). Seller Inventory # 2388