Boston: Bela Marsh [Bela Marsh and Redding and Company], 1850. First Edition. "There is so much smartness and sense in this snarling tract , that one is provoked,--catching something of its irritable temper,--that it should be spoiled by petulance, bad taste, and lamentable lack of dignity" (from a contemporary review..... More
![Le Mari Imprévu [La Vieille Roche]. Edmond ABOUT](/pictures/medium/35156.jpg?v=1529353804)
Paris: Hachette, 1865. First Edition. Octavo. Contemporary gilt-decorated morocco over marbled boards, spine in six compartments; 424 (2)pp. Bookplate, private shelf label and ownership signature of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, Thomas Jefferson's great-grandson and minister plenipotentiary to France from 1892-1893. Slight rubbing to board edges; sun-darkening to spine, with a bit..... More
![Der arme Teufel [The Poor Devil]. ANARCHISM, Robert REITZEL](/pictures/medium/27204.jpg?v=1554414988)
Detroit: Robert Reitzel, 1895-1897. Late group of issues of this prominent German-American radical literary journal. Der arme Teufel was published weekly for 14 years by Robert Reitzel, a German-born American anarchist, poet, critic and translator. The first two volumes of the journal were mainly concerned with the freethought movement, primarily..... More
N.p. [London, ca 1985?]. Universal calendar points to 1985 being the most likely date of creation for this vivid and graphically inspired poster, advertising a meeting of American radicals at the famed Conway Hall, long-time meeting place for radicals and intellectual center of the Conway Hall Ethical Society, thought to..... More
Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1954. Fourth Edition. 12mo (18cm.); green printed wrappers; [4],54pp. Wrapper extremities significantly toned to tan, some old creases, three small cancels printed on green and pink stock; Very Good overall. Rather uncommon edition of two theosophical lectures by the late 19th-century freethinker and women's rights activist..... More
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1908. Reprint. Crown octavo. Green pictorial cloth, lettered in gilt on spine; 452pp; frontispiece portrait. Spine a little darkened; ownership signature to front endpaper; Very Good. Later printing. More
Denver: Jane Kathryn Conrad, 1976. First Edition. Octavo (22cm.); pictorial staplebound self-wrappers; 33pp. A hint of toning, else Fine. The author answers such questions as: Do Atheists believe in the afterlife? How does an Atheist view the bible? Do atheists believe in marriage? More
![Anarchist Essays [with] Anarchist Poet [with] Anarchist Story-Teller. Voltairine DE CLEYRE](/pictures/medium/24574.jpg?v=1529353428)
San Francisco: Cobden Press, ca. 1980s. First thus. 3 volumes; octavo (approx. 21 to 21.5cm.); all in pictorial wrappers adorned with repeating photographic author portrait. Ownership pressure stamp of a Christopher A. Roell on each title page, else a Fine set. Modern reprint of selected works of freethinker and "anarchist..... More
Boston: Committee of One Hundred, 1890. First Edition. 12mo (17.5cm.); disbound from larger volume; 15pp. Slightly ex-library with contemporary rubberstamp and brief red pencil note to upper cover, else Near Very Good. Uncommon pamphlet issued by the Committee of One Hundred, an organization devoted to the separation of ecclesiastical influence..... More
Stevens Point, WI: P.A. Seguin. Printed promotion for P.A. Seguin's anti-Catholic publishing house, with brief (4-item) price list at foot. Text comprised of two poems in juxtaposition: Samuel Francis Smith's well-known patriotic hymn "America" (unattributed here) and another, apparently of Seguin's own composition, titled "The Little Red School House," attacking..... More
![Darwin on Trial at the Old Bailey [with] Judicial Scandals and Errors. FREETHOUGHT - DARWINISM -...](/pictures/medium/45626.jpg?v=1568326690)
London: The University Press, Ltd, [1898]. First Edition. Two works, the first a satirical play, the second a scholarly essay, attacking British censorship laws and the suppression of public speech. The University Press (sometimes calling itself the "Watford University Press") was a project of Rowland de Villiers, a freethought and..... More
New York: The Truth Seeker Company, N.d. (ca 1950). Reprint. A well-known freethought tract, first published in 1875. This reprint undated, but rear wrapper advertises a number of Truth Seeker publications, including two with publication dates in 1949-50. Octavo (20cm). Staple-bound yellow wrappers, printed in black; 27pp. Light wear and..... More
![Our Corner [Vols. 1-8]. FREETHOUGHT, Annie BESANT, ed](/pictures/medium/32508.jpg?v=1529353701)
London: Freethought Publishing Company, 1883-1886. First Edition. Sizeable collection of this early proto-Fabian publication, edited by the notable socialist and women's rights activist Annie Besant (1847-1933). Contents include serialized biographies and novels, poetry, puzzles (both word and picture), and a "Young Folks Corner." Among the columns featured in each issue..... More
London: Grant Richards, 1901. First Edition. Second in Davidson's series of "Testaments," issued between 1901 and 1908 in an attempt to put into verse his rather idiosyncratic personal philosophy which, though staunchly Materialist, rejected the mechanistic precepts of Darwinism. In his later career (beginning with these Testaments) Davidson became an..... More
London: Grant Richards, 1902. First Edition. Third in Davidson's series of "Testaments," issued between 1901 and 1908 in an attempt to put into verse his rather idiosyncratic personal philosophy which, though staunchly Materialist, rejected the mechanistic precepts of Darwinism. In his later career (beginning with these Testaments) Davidson became an..... More
Boston: J.Q. Adams (and others), 1836-1844. An attractive and representative collection of early issues of this important freethought weekly, founded by Abner Kneeland in 1832 and published continuously until 1904, when the paper was absorbed by the vastly wider-circulating Truth Seeker. The Investigator was published and printed by J.Q. Adams..... More
Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius, 1949. First Edition. Card covers; 32pp. Pasted-on stamp of the Truth Seeker Co. (later distributor); brief ownership signature; text slightly tanned. Very Good. More
Firenze: Libreria Rafanelli Polli, 1907. First Edition. An attack on the Church's continued teaching of miracles, with special reference to the legend of San Gennaro (St. Januarius), the patron saint of Naples, whose dried blood is said to "come to life" three times each year. Rare; no holdings noted in..... More
![Social Worship for Use In Families Schools & Churches [...] Issued on Behalf of the West London...](/pictures/medium/15746.jpg?v=1529353170)
London: The West London Ethical Society, 1913. First Edition. The first volume consists of meditations and homilies chosen from both clerical and secular sources, intended to illustrate the non-religious principles of Ethical Culture. The second volume, edited by Charles Kennedy Scott, is a compilation of secular hymns for use in..... More
![The Soul of Man Under Socialism [Thaddeus Burr Wakeman's Copy]. FREETHOUGHT, Oscar WILDE,...](/pictures/medium/46479.jpg?v=1591672812)
St. Louis: Hermann Schwarz, 1906. First Thus. Provenance: Copy of rationalist Thaddeus Burr Wakeman (1834-1913), given to him on August 24, 1911, on board the S.S. Pennsylvania by a Rachel Lillian Andrews "as a 'good bye,' + my problem to be solved by my visit to the first Monist Congress..... More
New York: Peter Eckler Publishing Co., 1926. First Edition. Staple-bound pamphlet; 32pp. Sunning to cover, lower spine end chipped, rear cover chipped, else very good. More
Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius, 1926. First Edition. Contents include Sanford Jarrell on "The Collapse of the Florida Boom"; Louis Adamic on "Long Beach, California--Yokel's Paradise"; and Clement Wood's "A Psycho-Analysis of Jesus." Octavo (21cm.); publisher's grey-green pictorial staplebound wrappers printed in red and black; [2],643-768pp. Wrapper extremities toned, small loss at..... More
Ridgefield, NJ: Independent Publications, 1989. Quarto (28cm.); publisher's white pictorial staplebound card wrappers; [16]pp.; illus. Light wear and toning to wrapper extremities, else Very Good and sound. Forms part of the Great Freethought Reprint Series. More
Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1891. First Edition. Small, thick octavo (18.75cm.); publisher's brown gilt-lettered cloth; viii,[9]-507pp. Some light wear to extremities, corners bumped, original owner's manuscript notes to front pastedowns, additional gift inscription to front free endpaper, rear hinge cracked but holding. Near Very Good overall. Upper cover..... More
Indianapolis: H. Lieber, 1869. First English Language Edition. Uncommon tract by the German-American freethinker Karl Heinzen (1809-1880). Of this edition a contemporary reviewer wrote "The author...may claim the merit of frankness, if no other; for he boldly takes his stand as an atheist and materialist, and treats all the Christian..... More
