[Suffern, N. Y. School of Living, ca. 1945]. First edition. Unbound pamphlet, approx. 8.25 x 5.5 inches, [4] pages. Vignette portrait. The standard dominant narrative of postwar America is that of the flight to suburban conformity; Ralph Borsodi and the School of Living had instead for a number of years...
New York: (William C. Whitney), 1902. First edition. 8vo, publisher’s blue morocco, gilt turn-downs, gilt lettering, 261, [1], [1] pages. Frontis portrait. This copy is numbered 300 of an unspecified number of copies (evidently 500) printed at the De Vinne Press. A personal account from a friendly outsider of the...
Benton Harbor, Mich. Published by the Israelite House of David as Re-organized by Mary Purnell, [after 1970]. First City of David edition. Original printed green wrappers, 5.88 x 4.25 inches, 11, [1] pages. A separately-published sermon from Jezreel, the Sixth Messenger—generally taken as the source for Benjamin Purnell’s authority as...
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Printed by C. C. Adams and Co., for the Author, 1810. First edition. 12mo, contemporary calf spine, marbled boards, 214, [1] pages. An early autobiographical account of the eccentric itinerant religious figure Theophilus Gates (1787-1846), eventually known as the Battle-Axe. Gates would eventually found a small colony of...
New York: Rinehart & Company, Inc., (1955). First edition. 8vo, original black cloth spine, cream boards, white lettering, [viii], 305 pages. Original printed dust jacket. A presentation copy, inscribed in ink on the front free endpaper, "Saul -- who if he agrees will I trust help spread my dream since...
New Lebanon, N. Y. [Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons, Printer, Albany], 1867. Fourth edition. 12mo, original printed yellow wrappers stitched, 192 pages. Stated fourth edition at the head of the title. The title page and ads are reset, otherwise printed from the identical plates of the first edition published by...
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1859. First edition. 12mo, original brown cloth, gilt lettering, 189 pages. Prepared by Evans, Calvin Green, and Giles Avery, a good overview of the history and beliefs of the Shakers up to this period. A minor variant on the binding title noted in Richmond. Richmond 646; Sabin 23152.
Chicago: The Throne Publishing Company, 1890. First edition. 8vo, original brick-red cloth, gilt lettering, 429 pages. What appears to be a round-about argument in favor of Christian Socialism via a return to first principles and the judicious application of contemporary thought. Gray, writing from Bloomington, Illinois, generally attacks the organized...
Albany: Printed by Packard & Van Benthuysen, 1823. First edition. 12mo, contemporary tree calf, blue morocco label, gilt rules and lettering, xvi, 320 pages. An account meant to explain the views and practices of the Shakers to the world at large. Early bookplate of the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., on...
London: S. Bagster and Sons; Bath: Isaac Pitman, 1845. First edition. 8vo, contemporary (original?) rose linen spine, blue green boards, [4], v, [3], 194 pages. Two folding leaves with tables, included in the pagination. These sheets with stab-holes and an added two preliminary leaves, suggesting the gathered sheets of the...
Americus, Georgia: Koinonia Partners, 1976. 8vo, original self-wrappers, 16 pages, illus.; 8vo, original self-wrappers, 16 pages, illus.; 6 leaves (unbound, unstapled, but mailed folded together), approx. 8.5 x 11 inches, illus. The newsletter gives broad outlines of the contemporary workings of the community (and includes order forms for various calico...
(Minneapolis): Little Free Press, (1982). First edition. 16mo, original printed yellow wrappers, [1], 31 pages, dated 9/6/82 in the colophon. One of the utopian pamphlets published by the advocate of the "Priceless Society" system, the Minnesota real estate speculator turned libertarian drop-out Ernest Mann, whose long-running Little Free Press was...
[Benton Harbor, Mich. n. p., ca. 1930-1940?]. Blue felt printed in gilt, approx. 14.75 inches long with a 5-inch base. Aimed at the tourist trade for this Israelite Adventist communal group, the City of David the colony led by Benjamin Purnell’s widow, Mary Purnell, after she and her followers separated.....
[N. p., ca. 1934-1940?]. Real photo postcard in sepia, approx. 3.38 x 5.38 inches, unused. A fine and appropriate image from the first of Eleanor Roosevelt's planned communities, intended for displaced West Virginia miners. The project eventually disbanded in 1947.
Cincinnati, March 13, 1833. 4 pages, 9-3/4 x 8 inches, integral address, approx. 1250 words. One gets some sense from this letter of the preoccupations of the era, as well as a hint at the tension between religion and progressive thought; Frances writes to her long-silent brother, “We heard thro’...
Oneida Reserve, N.Y. (Leonard and Company, Printers), May 13, 1851. 8vo, unbound, eight leaves (fastened with an early straight pin), [161]-176 pages. Printed in two columns. The weekly newspaper of the perfectionist utopian Oneida Community and its leader John Humphrey Noyes, edited by Noyes' sister Harriet. Includes several of Noyes'...
Oneida Reserve, N.Y. (Leonard and Company, Printers), June 28, 1851. 8vo, unbound, eight leaves, [241]-256 pages, untrimmed. The weekly newspaper of the perfectionist utopian Oneida Community and its leader John Humphrey Noyes, edited by Noyes' sister Harriet. This issue includes a lengthy nine page account of the beginnings and the...
Oneida Reserve, N.Y. (Leonard and Company, Printers), March 6, 1851. 8vo, unbound, eight leaves, [33]-48 pages. The weekly newspaper of the perfectionist utopian Oneida Community and its leader John Humphrey Noyes, edited by Noyes' sister Harriet. This issue seems particularly preoccupied with the humility and criticism which Noyes advocated for...
Oneida Reserve, N.Y. (Leonard and Company, Printers), March 13, 1851. 8vo, unbound, eight leaves, [49]-64 pages, untrimmed. Two old stab holes. The weekly newspaper of the perfectionist utopian Oneida Community and its leader John Humphrey Noyes. With one of Noyes' lengthy Home-Talks (on killing off the mercantile spirit of bargaining)...
East Canterbury, N. H. [Printed at Shaker Village], [1899]. Stated third edition. 12mo, wire stitched into the original blue cloth spine, printed green-gray boards, xii, [2], 79 pages. A conduct guide, originally for the students at the school at the New Lebanon, N. Y. community. Preface to the third edition...
[Portland, Me.]: (The Yellow Kid Press), [1972]. First edition, one of 100 copies. 16mo, original printed green wrappers, 4 pages. With original green envelope. From an eventual Shaker fellow traveler and the proprietor of the Yellow Kid Press, on arriving at Sabbathday Lake Shaker community on May 30, 1972 and...
Canterbury, N. H. n. p., 1842. First edition. Original blue wrappers, scant 6.5 x 4.13 inches, 35, [1] pages, stitched. “The following is a communication from Holy Mother Wisdom to the Elders of the First Order, at the Holy Mount of God; brought by a holy and swift-winged angel, belonging...
Albany: Printed by C. Van Benthuysen, 1848. Second edition. 8vo, original sheep, black leather spine label, gilt rules and lettering, vii, [1], 384 pages. An account meant to explain the views and practices of the Shakers to the world at large, with a section omitted from the 1823 first edition...
[Watervliet, N.Y. n. p., ca. 1850]. Single leaf of pearlblush stock, printed recto only, approx. 1 x 1.63 inches. Decorative type border. An attractive medicinal herb label produced for the Watervliet (N.Y.) Shaker communal society.
[Watervliet, N.Y. n. p., ca. 1850]. Single leaf of white stock, printed recto only, approx. 1 x 1.63 inches. Decorative type border. An attractive medicinal herb label produced for the Watervliet (N.Y.) Shaker communal society.
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