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134 RAPP, George. Thoughts on the Destiny of Man. Indiana: Harmony Society, 1824 American utopianism First edition, the first extensive publication of this important American utopian community. The Society had earlier published just one other work, a small leaflet of songs. Founded by George Rapp, The Harmony Society had its origins in Germany in the late 18th century, before fleeing to America to escape Lutheran persecution. In Pennsylvania in 1805, around 400 followers of Rapp formally founded the Society, placing their goods and labour in common. “From 1814 to 1824 the community was established in the Wabash Valley at Harmony, Posey County, Ind., but between fever- and-ague and barbarous neighbors the Harmonists found themselves neither safe nor comfortable, and in 1825 they sold their lands, through Richard Flower as their agent, to Robert Owen” ( DAB ). (See item 169.) Octavo (180 × 108 mm). Recent quarter calf and plain paper boards, blue morocco spine label, original blue wrappers bound in. Original front wrapper with small chips to the corners, light soiling, two leaves with old repairs in the gutter just touching the text, one leaf with small loss in the blank margin, scattered spotting throughout; a very good copy. ¶ Sabin 95698. £3,500 [87748] 135 RIIS, Jacob A. Children of the People (original manuscript). [New York: 1903] Original signed manuscript by the major reformer The original manuscript of Riis’s short story “Children of the People”, signed by the author in pencil, describing the ongoing suffering of children, as published in The Century Magazine for December 1903, and later collected, under the title “The City’s Heart”, in his 1915 story collection Neighbors: Life Stories of the Other
Half . The manuscript – around 2,000 words – displays the author’s editorial process, with extensive corrections and edits to the text throughout, amending and omitting numerous words and sentences. A muckraking journalist of enduring influence, Jacob Riis (1849–1914) had first explored child welfare reform in his 1892 work Children of the Poor . A lifelong campaigner for the rights of children, he protested crammed tenement blocks, promoting funds to take children into the countryside, advocating for city parks, and supporting more funding for public schools. His expositions of New York poverty and his years of campaigning helped bring about the reforms of the Progressive Era, and brought the conditions of the slums to much greater public awareness. Upon his death, Theodore Roosevelt called Riis “the staunchest, most efficient, friend the children of New York City have ever had” (cited in ANB ). Manuscripts of this sort by Riis are very uncommon on the market. 9 page manuscript in black ink on blue-lined paper, written on rectos only, each leaf 25 × 20 cm. Old paper-clip stain to first and last leaves, minor peripheral chips, including a shallow loss to bottom corner of the first two leaves with loss to a few letters, light toning and finger- soiling; overall a very well-preserved, easily readable manuscript. £3,500 [146044] 136 ROBBINS, Lionel. An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1932 Presentation copy to his brother-in-law, “the greatest male friendship of my life” First edition, first impression, of Robbins’s first major book, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “Clive from Lionel 6/32”. The recipient is almost certainly his brother-in-law Clive Gardiner, “with whom until his death I maintained the greatest male friendship of my life” (Robbins, Autobiography , p. 44 ) .
WEALTH AND WELFARE
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