BOOTH, William
 
In Darkest England and the Way Out. Published by, International Headquarters of the Salvation Army, London in 1890.
 
Description
 
Octavo. Original dark navy cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt. Complete with the large folding lithographic colour frontispiece chart.
First edition of Booth’s foundational manifesto on social reform and the structural framework of the Salvation Army.
Loosely inserted is a contemporary ephemeral offprint of, Sir Walter Besant’s, The Farm and the City. A Study of the Social Work of the Salvation Army. Reprinted from The Contemporary Review, (c.1891-1892).
Octavo, 31pp, original printed self-wrappers, loosely inserted.
The original dark navy cloth binding is very good. Gilt lettering on the front board and spine remains bright and distinct. Some wear along the edges and to the spine ends, consistent with age. The text block is firm and clean. Front hinge joint just starting, though secure. The large folding colour frontispiece illustration is intact, free of the common tears or misfolding splits found in most surviving copies, and remains correctly folded as issued.
Ownership inscribed along top edge of title page, ‘Aunt Elizabeth from Sydney, Xmas 1890,’ confirming the book’s purchase and transit during the initial months of publication.
Accompanying loose pamphlet by the prominent Victorian novelist and historian Sir Walter Besant serves as a critical contemporary defence of Booth's industrial and agricultural Land Colony experiments. These independent offprints were distributed in limited quantities to address public scepticism regarding the Salvation Army's social schemes. The survival rate of these fragile paper items is low.
The Besant pamphlet is complete, with expected toning to the paper edges, with only the outer cover parted from the original staple binding; otherwise excellent, and a complete example of late-Victorian social history.