[KNIGHT, Charles]

The Working-Man's Companion. The Results of Machinery, Namely Cheap Production and Increased Employment, Exhibited: Being an Address to the Working-Men of the United Kingdom. American Edition.

Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1831. First American Edition. 16mo (14.5cm). Calf-backed marbled boards; 216pp. A strong, Very Good copy, lightly worn and with a private shelf label at base of spine. Pencil subject index added on front free endpaper. Ownership signature of Henry W. Tovey (Harvard historian) to flyleaf.

A noted anti-labor tract by the British author and publisher of popular literature. Printed first in London; in the U.S., also printed as part of an omnibus edition the same year, adding Knight's "Cottage Evenings" and "The Rights of Industry;" priority uncertain. Charles Knight (1791-1873), a publisher and author known for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and the Penny Magazine, "was opposed to trade unions, as indeed to most organizations with entirely working-class leadership and membership, and viewed popular demonstrations with no sympathy." He valued "harmonious relations between industrialists and workforce, whose interests he believed to be too interdependent to allow any separation" (ODNB). B&B 7866. KRESS C2850.

Price: $300.00

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