Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
New York: Mother Earth Publishing Assocation, 1912.
First edition, first printing. Signed by Alexander Berkman on the front free endpaper with a dazzling and inspirational full-page inscription to a former owner, "Don't try to be of the herd. You are an individual, dif-ferent from all others. There would be more strength + originality in the world if we dared to be ourselves. Dare it. Alexander Berkman." [xvi], 512, [8; ads] pp with tissue-guarded frontisportrait of the author. Bound in publisher's grey cloth stamped in black on the spine; lacking the scarce dust jacket. Near fine with slight lean to binding, light wear to extremities, and toning. The anarchist's classic autobiography detailing his 14-year imprisonment for the failed assassination of industrialist and financier Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Strike, alongside his critique of the carceral state and treatment of criminals. It was also one of the earliest works to call for the sympathetic treatment of homosexuals. Berkman's inscriptions, which are a rarity in themselves, are at times rather poignant, but rarely are they as rousing as this example.
Price: $3,800