[ECCENTRIC LITERATURE] [MENTAL ILLNESS] CHANLER [CHALONER], John Armstrong

Four Years Behind the Bars of "Bloomingdale" or the Bankruptcy of Law in New York. A Human Document Based Upon the Following Court Documents [...]

Roanoke Rapids: Palmetto Press, [1906]. First Edition. Octavo. Brown cloth; gilt spine and cover titles; [8],322,88pp; 8pp pamphlet of reviews tipped on inside rear cover. Erratum stamped to upper margin of p.[i]: "Index sometimes up to five figures out of the way owing to haste of printing;" another stamp inside front cover, noting that the eccentrically placed spine-title is the result of "bookbinder's error." Mild external wear, else a very clean copy, free of markings or notable defects; Very Good or better.

First-hand account of the author's involuntary institutionalization at the hands of his family, his subsequent escape, and his criticisms of the American legal and psychiatric establishments, which were many (and to all appearances justified). Chanler (1862-1935), born into New York society and heir to a large fortune, became estranged from his family early. Chanler made grandiose claims of possessing extrasensory powers (which he called the "X Faculty"); these, accompanied by what would appear to have been a fairly severe persecution complex, were used by his brothers as justification to commit him against his will to the Bloomingdale Asylum in White Plains, New York, where he remained for nearly four years. In the course of his incarceration, Chanler was judged officially "insane" by the State of New York. He eventually escaped, placed himself in the care of a private clinic, and commenced a one-man crusade against the psychiatric-legal establishment. Between 1906 and his death Chanler (who later changed his name to Chaloner) published no fewer than two dozen books in an attempt to rehabilitate his image and in pursuit of justice against his critics. Four Years Behind the Bars was the first of these; written in a dense and eccentric sort of legalese patois, it is comprised of a detailed account of the New York verdict and Chanler's arguments against it. Later in life Chanler succeeded in having his "insanity" verdict overturned; he was also married briefly to the Virginia novelist Amelie Rives, whose quasi-erotic 1888 potboiler The Quick or The Dead featured some steamy passages with a character who closely resembled a younger Chanler. A terrific piece of American eccentriana, not especially rare but great, and certainly uncommon in this condition.

Price: $250.00

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