Progressive Tracts (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Sammelband. Twelve pamphlets bound into one volume. 12mo. Approximately [625]pp., paginated variously. Bound without wrappers into leather-backed maroon textured cloth with spine gilt and edges sprinkled. Some pamphlets with margins trimmed. Spine with light wear and slight loss at the head, some pamphlets with age-toning, pamphlet 11 with a tiny chip at the base of the spine throughout, still a tight, near fine copy. A collection of 12 rare, late-19th Century American political pamphlets, most published in the run-up to the 1896 Presidential election. Themes include the exploitation of labor (particularly farmers) and the evils of plutocracy, bimetallism, the virtues of individualism and Prohibition, the tariff question, and the nationalization of the railroads. Highlights include a pamphlet with over 30 political cartoons by the noted socialist illustrator Ryan Walker, and an 1896 Oklahoma imprint published by long-time abolitionist and populist James Vincent, Sr. Six pamphlets appear to be unlisted in *OCLC*, and all but one are known in less than 10 copies. As of March 8, 2021, none of them are available in the trade. A list is below: 1. Trumbull, Gen. M.M. *Thomas Jefferson: The Father of American Democracy. His Political, Social and Religious Philosophy*. Chicago: George Schilling, [circa 1890s]. [3] 4-20pp. A paean to Jefferson and individualism. 2. Ervin, Clark. *Peril of the Republic*. Chicago: W.L. Raynolds, June, 1896. *American Politics*, Vol. 2, No. 2. [2] 3-62pp. Perils include: foreign invasion, a moneyed aristocracy, American anarchists, and various "minor but destructive" dangers. Copyright 1891; this edition with a 10-page appendix. *OCLC* appears to locate no copies of this title, and shows about 22 copies (of only five titles) of *American Politics*, published by Raynolds. (N.B. The margins are trimmed close on this pamphlet, with only a single page losing one letter per line at the foredge. One leaf is folded vertically near the foredge [it stands a bit proud otherwise] in order to accommodate the text on the verso.) 3. Thompson, R.S. *Money: Its Nature, Function, and Power*. [Likely Springfield, Ohio: New Era Co.], August, 1894. [1] 2-96pp. *The Question*, Vol. 4, No. 8. An address delivered before the Springfield, Ohio, Trades and Labor Assembly, Friday, April 27, 1894. *OCLC* appears to locate no copies. Issues of *The Question* in general seem to be uncommon, with *OCLC* returning only a couple of copies in various formats. We've pulled likely publication information from there. 4. (Bennett, Hon. M.V.B.). *What Shall the Harvest Be?* [Likely Springfield, Ohio: New Era Co.], April, 1895. [1] 2-52pp. *The Question*, Vol. 5, No. 4. A speech delivered at Otterbein, Indiana, February 11, 1895. *OCLC* appears to locate no copies; see above. A speech on the exploitation of the American farmer and the tariff question, from the perspective of the Prohibition Party. A lawyer, preacher, Civil War veteran, and lifelong Midwesterner, Martin Van Buren Bennett lectured for 18 years with the State Temperance Union. His 1913 obituary in the Norton, Kansas, *The Champion* was titled "Kansas' Great Orator Dead," and we aren't going to question the accolade. In his closing, he calls the men who seek to lead labor astray "dishonorable enough and mean enough to steal the silver quarters from off the eyes of a dead man, and then kick his body because the quarters were not five-dollar gold pieces!" 5. (Various). *The Plutocrat, and Eleven Other Orations*. Springfield, Ohio: The Inter-Collegiate Company, 1893. [3] 4-90 [6 blank] pp. Delivered at the National Contest of the Inter-Collegiate Prohibition Convention at Harvey, Illinois, June 30, 1893. Speeches by named college students, whose topics go beyond Prohibition into the arenas of politics and civic virtue. Includes a history of the Inter-Collegiate Prohibition Association. *OCLC* locates two copies (U. Illinois, Ohio History Connection). 6. (Wilson, Jas. W.). *Farm, Fiel.