Up from Methodism -by Herbert Asbury -a Signed Copy ( The Freethought Book Club Selection for March 1930 )( Methodist )

Asbury, Herbert (signed)

Published by N.Y. / New York: Alfred A Knop, 1930, 1st Edition, 3rd Printing, New York, NY, 1930

About this Item

-----------( 3rd printing of the First Edition ) ---hardcover, a Very Good+/Near Fine example, age toning to the upper edge of the text block, a wee bit of light rubbing, former owner's bookplate ( RICHARD SPAMER ) on verso of front board, ---in an attractive Good to Very Good dustjacket, light wear and rubbing, tape reinforcement on verso along upper and lower edges, some small chips and tears, ---jacket is now in a hi-quality mylar protector, ---this copy has been signed without inscription by HERBERT ASBURY, 174 pages, ---"In 1926, while a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, Herbert Asbury, great-great-nephew of Francis Asbury, the first American Bishop of the Methodist Church, submitted a chapter of his profane work-in-progress, an almost spiteful memoir of his boyhood in the Ozark town of Farmington, Missouri, to H.L Mencken's American Mercury magazine. Mencken published "Hatrack," the story of the town's prostitute, in the April issue. The Mercury was then banned in Boston at the incitement of J. Frank Chase, the head of the New England Watch and Ward Society, who called the story "bad, vile, raw stuff." Mencken was arrested selling the magazine to Chase on Boston Common in a stunt designed to provoke the free-speech trials that followed. In its restrained, but unrelenting attack on religious bigotry, irrationality, and hypocrisy, the book that was published soon thereafter retains its transgressive power today. Its taunting title, playing on Booker T. Washington's early-century bestseller Up from Slavery, gives an idea of what Asbury thought he had escaped. In his mocking humor and plain-spun language, used to evoke a bygone South suffocating in its fear of pleasure and damnation, Asbury reveals his debt to another son of Missouri, Mark Twain"---, any image directly beside this listing is the actual book and not a generic photo./// SIGNED ---GUARANTEED to be AVAILABLE/// ---sizes are approximate (generally within 1/8 inch)------ Size: 5.25w x 7.75h Inches. Seller Inventory # 170706

Bibliographic Details

Title: Up from Methodism -by Herbert Asbury -a ...

Publisher: N.Y. / New York: Alfred A Knop, 1930, 1st Edition, 3rd Printing, New York, NY

Publication Date: 1930

Binding: Hard Cover

Illustrator: BERNHARD ( Lucien Bernhard ) Cover Art and Design

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Signed: Signed (see description)

Edition: Later Printing.

Book Type: NOT Price Clipped