Rare early printings of The Woman's Bible, both volumes lengthily inscribed by famed American suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton who chaired the committee that published the work. Octavo, two volumes, Part I: third edition - ten thousand, Part II: first edition - ten thousand. Both parts are presentation copies, lengthily inscribed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Part I is inscribed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Miss Mary . compliments of Elizabeth Cady Stanton 250 West 94th New York 1899 We much read the Bible as we do all other books that have emanated from the brain of man with no special divine authority." Part II is inscribed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Compliments of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, born at Johnstown, NY, Nov. 12th, 1815. TheÂBibleÂdegrades Woman from Genesis to Revelation & yet women believe it was written byÂthe fingers of God." In very good condition. Rare. "The Woman's Bible is a collection of essays and commentaries on the Bible compiled in 1895 by a committee chaired by Cady Stanton, one of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention (the first Woman's Rights Convention held in 1848) and a founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Stanton's purpose was to initiate a critical study of biblical texts that are used to degrade and subject women in order to demonstrate that it is not divine will that humiliates women, but human desire for domination. In 'denying divine inspiration for demoralizing ideas,' Stanton's committee hoped to exemplify a reverence for a higher 'Spirit of all Good'" (Boles, Janet K., Diane Long Hoeveler, and Rebecca Bardwell. Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, c. 1996). Nonetheless, The Woman's Bible was not well-received by everyone. Many members of clergy felt that the whole concept was sacrilegious, beginning with the title. "Stanton's sustained ideological assault on religious orthodoxy, especially her publication of The Woman's Bible in 1895 and 1898, represented her last but not least controversial attempt to lessen the influence of what she believed constituted the ideological basis for women's subordination in 19th century America. That she was censured and ridiculed by sister suffragists for doing so made this last crusade one of the more painful, and perhaps invigorating, of her life." (Fitzgerald, foreword to The Woman's Bible, Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993).
Lewis, C.S
Autograph letter signed by C.S. Lewis. One page, the letter reads in full, "MagdalenÂCollege, Oxford, Sept 30/ [19]49 Dear Mrs. Somervell Thank you for the lovely box of grapes which arrived today. This is most kind of you but you really should not have taken so much trouble. You are always in my prayers. I hope you have better news about Patrick. With best wishes and very many thanks, yours sincerely, C. S. Lewis." Lewis was elected a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College in 1925 where he served for 29 years until 1954. He then accepted the newly founded chair in Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he finished his career. He maintained a strong attachment to the city of Oxford, keeping a home there and returning on weekends until his death in 1963. In near fine condition. C.S. Lewis held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925â"1954) and Cambridge University (Magdalene College, 1954â"1963). He is best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, but he is also noted for his other works of fiction, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, including Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.
Wells, H.G. [Derrick de Marnay]
First edition of the novelization of the classic 1936 film H. G. Wells' Things to Come. Octavo, original publisher's cloth. Signed by H.G. Wells and actor Derrick de Marnay on front free endpaper. Derrick de Marnay starred as Richard Gordon in the acclaimed 1936 film adaptation, Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies. In near fine condition. A very sharp and unique signed example. First published in 1933, The Shape of Things to Come takes the form of a future history that ends in 2106. A long economic slump causes a major war that leaves Europe devastated and threatened by the plague. In decades of chaos with much of the world reverting to medieval conditions, pilots and technicians formerly serving in various nations' air forces maintain a network of functioning air fields. Around this nucleus, technological civilization is rebuilt, with the pilots and other skilled technicians eventually seizing worldwide power and sweeping away the remnants of the old nation states. A number of Wells' short-term predictions would come true, such as the aerial bombing of whole cities presented in more detail than in his previous The War in the Air and the eventual development of weapons of mass destruction. The book was adapted into the 1936 film, Things to Come, directed by William Cameron Menzies and starring Derrick de Marnay as Richard Gordon. "Things to Come qualifies as the first true masterpiece of science fiction cinema" (Westfahl, Bio-Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Film).
Lewis, C.S
Early printing of Lewis's classic discussion of the nature of good and evil; inscribed by him with a quotation from Coventry Patmore's poem The Angel in the House which had a profound influence on the development of Lewis's Christian beliefs. Octavo, original publisher's cloth. Signed by C.S. Lewis with a quotation from Coventry Patmore's poem The Angel in the House, "They live by law, not like the fool, But like the bard who freely sings in strictest bonds of rhyme and rule and finds in them not bonds but wings - Patmore C.S. Lewis April 1944." First published in 1854, Coventry Patmore's The Angel in the House was enormously popular throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It became a part of the curriculum of many English Literature courses following its inclusion by W. W. Norton & Company in The Norton Anthology of English Literature. An idealized account of Patmore's courtship of his first wife, Emily Augusta Andrews whom he married in 1847 and believed to be the perfect woman, it was believed to be "culturally significant, not only for its definition of the sexual ideal, but also for the clarity with which it represents the male concerns that motivate fascination with that ideal" (Carol T. Christ). Very good in a very good supplied dust jacket. Rare and desirable. In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis, one of the most renowned Christian authors and thinkers, examines a universally applicable question within the human condition: âIf God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?â Lewis states that his writing is "not primarily arguing the truth of Christianity but describing its origin - a task . necessary if we are to put the problem of pain in its right setting". He begins by addressing the flaws in common arguments against the belief in a just, loving, and all-powerful God such as: "If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both." Topics include human suffering and sinfulness, animal suffering, and the problem of hell, and seeks to reconcile these with an omnipotent force beyond ourselves. Lewis' philosophical approach in Problem of Pain bears some similarity to his later, more personal, approach to the problem of evil in A Grief Observed, a reflection on his own experiences of grief and anguish after the death of his wife.
Hancock, John
Military commission signed by John Hancock in 1787 as Governor of Massachusetts. One page, partially printed, bound in boards with gilt titles to the front panel. The document appoints Peter Ayer to the rank of "Ensign of the Seventh company in the fourth Regiment and in the Brigades of the Second Division of the Militia of this Commonwealth, comprehending the County of Essex." Dated October 8th 1787 and signed by John Hancock at left beneath the Massachusetts seal. Countersigned by John Avery Jr. as Secretary of the Commonwealth and on the verso by Col. John Brickett of Haverhill. Bound with n autograph transmittal letter signed by Brickett.ÂIn very good condition. Housed in a custom display case. The document measures 18 inches by 12.75 inches. The entire piece measures 18.5 inches by 15.5 inches. When, in 1780, Massachusetts approved a state constitution, Hancock was elected the first governor of the commonwealth, serving until his surprising resignation due to ill health in 1785. After the disastrous outbreak of Shays' Rebellion, Hancock ran for the governorship again and easily won a second term in 1787, serving until 1793 and leading Massachusetts "at a time when a national movement was under way to replace the Articles of Confederation with a new constitution. This movement resulted in the convening of the Constitutional Convention in May 1787. When as governor Hancock received the proposed federal Constitution for ratification, he summoned a joint session of the Massachusetts House and Senate and laid the document before it" (ANB). Hancock was promptly named President of the Constitutional Convention in January 1788â"at a time when Federalist and Anti-Federalist divisions over ratification of the federal Constitution seemed to threaten America's revolutionary cause. In truth, "the entire future of the United States was at stake" (Maier, 17). Amidst heated debate, Hancock made a speech that ultimately sealed approval of the U.S. Constitution. "The question now before you," he said to the delegates, "is such as no nation on earth, without the limits of America, have ever had the privilege of deciding upon⦠we must all rise or fall together." At his urging Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Historians agree: "without Hancock's support it seems unlikely that ratification would have occurred. This was Hancock's finest moment, for without the support of Massachusetts the entire constitutional effort might have failed." Hancock was "a key figure in securing independence and creating the republic⦠and he played a critical role in promoting harmony among the founding fathers at important moments in the revolutionary era" (ANB).
Hall, Oakley
First edition of this classic of American West literature. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Signed by Oakley Hall on a page bound in. In near fine condition. Oakley Hall's legendary Warlock revisits and reworks the traditional conventions of the Western to present a raw, funny, hypnotic, ultimately devastating picture of American unreality. First published in the 1950s, at the height of the McCarthy era, Warlock is not only one of the most original and entertaining of modern American novels but a lasting contribution to American fiction. "Also in '59 we simultaneously picked up on what I still think is among the finest of American novels, Warlock, by Oakley Hall. We set about getting others to read it too, and for a while had a micro-cult going. Soon a number of us were talking in Warlock dialogue, a kind of thoughtful, stylized, Victorian Wild West diction" (Thomas Pynchon). It is the basis for the 1958 film directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn and Dorothy Malone.
Fowles, John
First edition of the author's most well-known work. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Signed by John Fowles on a page bound in. In fine condition. The Magus was published by in the United Kingdom in 1966 and in the United States by Little, Brown and Company the same year. An instant success, the Sunday Telegraph called it a major work of mounting tensions in which the human mind is the guinea-pig. Mr Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits.are on the bull's eye'." The Magus was quickly adapted into film starring Michael Cain, a "deliciously toothsome celebration of wanton story-telling. Before one quite realises what is happenings, one finds oneself no less avid for meanings and no less starving amid a plethora of clues than is Nicholas himself" (Sunday Times). It was named by Modern Library as one of the 100 Greatest Novels of the twentieth century, and in 2003, was listed at number 67 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Nabokov, Vladimir
First edition of Nabokov's classic autobiography. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition. Speak, Memory, first published in 1951, is an elegant and rich evocation of Nabokov's life and times, even as it offers incisive insights into his major works, including Lolita, Pnin, Despair, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, and The Defense. Time Magazine listed the book among the 100 All-TIME non-fiction books indicating that its "impressionist approach deepens the sense of memories relived through prose that is gorgeous, rich and full". Joseph Epstein lists Nabokov's book among the few truly great autobiographies.
Wolfe, Tom
First edition of the author's first novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by Tom Wolfe on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Fred Marcellino. The Bonfire of the Vanities is a novel, but it is based on the same sort of detailed on-scene reporting as Wolfe's great nonfiction bestsellers, The Right Stuff, Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. And it is every bit as eye-opening in its achievements. It is a big, panoramic story of the metropolis-the kind of fiction strangely absent from our literature in the second half of this century-that reinforces Tom Wolfe's reputation as the foremost chronicler of the way we live in America. "A big, bitter, funny, craftily plotted book that grabs you by the lapels and won't let go" (The New York Times Book Review).
