Lucy Boston; Or, Woman's Rights and Spiritualism Illustrating the Follies and Delusions of the Nineteenth Century

New York: Alden and Beardsley, 1855. First edition. Cloth. Good. 7.5" by 5". None. The scarce first edition of this fascinating interdisciplinary satire, relating to feminism and spiritualism. The first edition of the work. Very scarce, particularly the Alden and Beardsley imprint. Hamilton 508. Illustrated with frontispiece, vignette, and eight plates. Collated complete. Written by Fred Folio, believed to be a pseudonym, little is known of the author. With a dedication to one 'T. P. Munrab', an anagram of P. T. Barnum. Folio dedicated the work to Barnum following his notable 'Fiji Mermaid hoax', considering Barnum a master fraudster and paving the way for many spiritualists to come. The work satirises both spiritualism and the women's rights movements, and although was met with criticism for the somewhat clumsy handling of the issues, is nonetheless an important contemporary work on the topics, ending with the epitaph "Spiritualism and Women's Rights! Twins in their birth and ill begot; Twins in their grave -- there let 'em rot." In the original black cloth binding. Externally, smart with rubbing and light bumping to the extremities. Fading to the spine and marks to the board. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are very bright with the odd spot and light tide marks to pages one to forty. Previous owner's bookplate to the front pastedown. Good