A Persian Pearl and Other Essays, Limited First Edition.
Limited Edition of Darrow's Debut Book A Persian Pearl: This Copy Being Number 102 of 980 Copies Darrow, Clarence [1857-1938]. A Persian Pearl And Other Essays. East Aurora, New York: The Roycrofters, 1899. First edition, limited to 980 copies, of which this is No. 102. Octavo (8-3/4" x 5-1/2"; 22.2 x 14cm). 175 pp. Original quarter reversed calf (suede) over tan paper-covered boards, gilt title to front board, gilt red lettering piece to spine, deckle edges. Printed throughout in red and black on custom paper with ornamental initials, and decorative devices. The suede spine is typically dry and moderately chafed but remains intact, showing wear and minor loss at the head. Corners are lightly bumped and exposed. Boards exhibit light soiling and a few minor stains. Internally clean with moderate, uniform toning. A good, sound copy of the author's scarce debut book. $200. * A Persian Pearl and Other Essays was Darrow's debut book and the cornerstone of any Darrow collection. Long before achieving international fame as America's preeminent defense attorney, Darrow was a prominent Chicago labor lawyer deeply immersed in midwestern radical, populist, and literary circles. A Persian Pearl and Other Essays serves as the cornerstone of any Darrow collection, mapping out the foundational humanist, skeptical, and empathetic philosophies that would dictate his legendary legal career. The title essay offers an impassioned appreciation of Edward FitzGerald's translation of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, a text that deeply informed Darrow's own agnostic fatalism and rejection of orthodox dogma. The accompanying essays on Walt Whitman and Robert Burns champion the "common man" and the virtues of literary realism. Collectively, these writings reveal a nascent legal mind that viewed human frailty through a lens of deterministic compassion rather than moral judgment-a philosophical framework Darrow would later deploy in the courtroom to save dozens of defendants from the death penalty. Hunsberger, Clarence Darrow: A Bibliography 18.
Price: $200.00
Book number 87299