Shaftesbury Edmund Pseudonym Webster Edgerly (2 results)

Hard Cover. Condition: good+. 2nd Edition. Ralstonism: The Hope of the Human Race ('R'egime 'A'ctivity 'L'ight 'S'trength 'T'emperation 'O'xygen 'N'ature) Edgerly was the founder of Ralstonism & advocated for a new race based on Caucasians, free from "impurities" & the castration of non-Caucasian males at birth. He later went into business with the head of Purina Co. which then took the name Ralston Purina. 192 pages; patterned eps; contents clean; b/w illustrations; 9.5" tall; silver & gilt lettering & decor on front of green cover with some biopredation to edges & spine. Hardcover.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Volume I. (I do not know that there were other volumes published.) Thick 4to. (25 cm.) 528p. Illustrated with 14 full-page color plates showing various scenes associated with the Ralston Way (e.g., "The Fourth Arch of Knowledge"), and with more than 350 black and white figures throughout, as well as very many black and white drawings, including of idealized landscapes in the Ralston Gardens. Index. Bound in at the back is the so-called "Red Form", which was an application form for admittance into the Ralston Club Brown pebble-grained cloth with gilt letters and decorations on the spine. Decorative endpapers. Some wear to extremities with the corners just rubbed through, top and bottom of spine just beginning to fray, covers ever so lightly soiled, gilt bright, occasional pencil check marks, as though someone is keeping track of things done the Ralston way, else very good to near fine with no other internal markings. No dust jacket. The brainchild of Webster Edgerly (1852-1926), Ralstonism was a social movement in 19th century in the U.S. which some think numbered as many as 800,000 followers. Beginning as the Ralston Health Club, which published Edgerly's writings, Ralstonism was an hierarchical organization where members were ranked according to the number of "degrees" they had, which ranged from 0 to 100. Members advanced five degrees at a time, and each Ralston book that a member purchased counted as five degrees. According to Edgerly, the letters for the word RALSTON came from Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, (sic) Oxygen and Nature, though some doubt this is true. Edgerly believed his followers were the founding members of a new race, based on Caucasians, and free from "impurities". He advocated the castration of all "anti-racial" (non-Caucasian) males at birth. Edgerly, who was sometimes called "Dr. Ralston," wrote 82 of what would today be called self-help books under the pseudonym "Edmund Shaftesbury". They covered subjects including diet, exercise, punctuation, sexual magnetism, artistic deep breathing, facial expressions and even ventriloquism! In 1900 Edgerly joined forces with the founder of Purina Food Company, which took the name Ralston Purina Company, which made whole wheat cereal that Ralstonites were to consume. The book offered here is the foundational work of Ralstonism.