Equality
by GREENE, William B
- Used
- Condition
- A wonderful copy.
- Seller
-
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Rare first edition of a radical American utopian tract.
Greene (1818-1878) was a prominent American theorist and Unitarian minister, who published prolifically on the question of government and banking, as well as producing more esoteric works on the kabbala, transcendentalism and suffrage. His long-held beliefs regarding the importance of the individual and ownership of labour, led to his postulation of the urgent necessity for a community of equals providing non-competitive support for each other. This reinstatement of private property is an explicit rejection of Socialism, which he labels in this work 'the only political system which presents no good points.'
Instead, he calls for a profoundly American apotheosis of the republican ideal: 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: this is the mystical triangle which ought to be inscribed on the colors of every republic.' Only the presence of all three of these ideals, each tempering and moderating the others, can allow for the creation of the ideal Constitutional Democratic Republic. The tract concludes with an axiomatic statement about Greene's political theory, and its foundational positioning of the explicit rejection of Socialism: 'An organisation of Society which renders a man dependent upon his neighbours, upon public opinion - which, in a word, renders him subservient to his accidents, instead of supreme over them - is destructive to individualism, and is, therefore, profoundly immoral.'
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Details
- Bookseller
- Hordern House Rare Books (AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 3005411
- Title
- Equality
- Author
- GREENE, William B
- Book Condition
- Used - A wonderful copy.
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- O.S. Cooke & Co.
- Place of Publication
- West Brookfield
- Date Published
- 1849
Terms of Sale
Hordern House Rare Books
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About the Seller
Hordern House Rare Books
About Hordern House Rare Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Wrappers
- The paper covering on the outside of a paperback. Also see the entry for pictorial wraps, color illustrated coverings for...
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...