A Persian Pearl, Inscribed by Darrow [with] 2 Typed Letters, Signed

Inscribed by Darrow, With Two Warm Signed Letters Darrow, Clarence [1857-1938]. A Persian Pearl and Other Essays. Chicago: C.L. Ricketts (Lakeside Press colophon), 1902. 160, [1] pp. Quarter cloth over patterned paper boards, gilt title to spine, top edge gilt, deckle fore and bottom edges. Light soiling along spine and cloth sections of boards, corners bumped and worn. Light toning to interior, large presentation inscription to front endleaf: "To Mrs. Claire Carmen/ From Clarence Darrow/ April 4th 1916." Two typed letters, signed, on Darrow's personal stationery, laid in, one from Darrow to "My Dear Mrs. Carman [sic]," the other from Darrow to Samuel Alschuler. $1,750. * Second edition. A Persian Pearl was Darrow's first book and remains the cornerstone of any Darrow collection. It consists of five essays. "A Persian Pearl" is an appreciation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. The other essays discuss Walt Whitman, Robert Burns, realism in literature and art and the importance of facing up to past mistakes without fear or shame. This copy was inscribed to Mrs. Claire Carmen in 1916. Based on the date of the typed letters, it appears she had a long-term acquaintance with Darrow. The letter addressed to her encloses "the letter [she] asked for" and wishes her "good luck.in [her] interests and undertakings." The other letter is addressed to Samuel Alschuler [1859-1939], a former politician and judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. It is a letter of introduction for Mrs. Carmen, who was trying to help a "destitute woman in her eighties" get into a nursing home and believed that Alschuler could assist with this. Hunsberger, Clarence Darrow: A Bibliography 44.…