Seven Wives and Seven Prisons: Or, Experiences in the Life of a Matrimonial Monomaniac. A True Story, Written by Himself.
New York: Published for the Author, 1870. First edition. 12mo, original green cloth, gilt lettering. Frontis, three plates. Cloth somewhat rubbed; text block a trifle browned; a very good copy. Item #15441
The misadventures of a homoeopathic doctor turned serial bigamist and his life on the run in upstate New York and New England. Despite Wright’s classification of this work as fiction, the recurrent episodes of matrimony (varied with the occasional forged bank note or jailhouse scene) have enough clumsy detail to ring true—an assessment evidently shared by Kaplan. In any event, despite Abbott’s legal setbacks, with each chapter one happily anticipates a sentimental renewal from our tender-hearted narrator: “From the day, almost, when I began to board with this farmer there sprung up a strong attachment between myself and his youngest daughter [wife number two] which soon ripened into mutual love.” Kaplan, American Autobiographies, 10; Wright II, 3.
Price: $125.00