The Pardoner’s Wallet.
first edition
1905 · Boston
by Crothers, Samuel McChord.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1905. First Edition. Octavo, tan cloth (hardcover), top edge gilt, uncut, 287 pp. Very Good, with minor soiling to covers, light fraying to tip of spine. From Preface: There is a well-grounded prejudice against a volume which exhibits no marks of design and which turns out to be only a fortuitous collection of essays. It is felt that the chapters brought together under the cover a single book should have something in common. When one sees a number of subjects, each standing aloof from the others, he predicts infelicity. It suggests incompatibility of temper. The essays brought together in “the Pardoner’s Wallet” have at least a certain community of interest. They treat of aspects of human nature which, while open to friendly criticism, are excusable. If the author sometimes touches upon the foibles of his betters, he at least has the grace to know that they are his betters. Contents: The Pardoner; Unseasonable Virtues; An Hour with our Prejudices; How to Know the Fallacies; THe Difficulties of the Peacemakers; The Land of the Large and Charitable Air; A Community of Humorists; A Saint Recanonized; As He Sees Himself; A Man under Enchantment; The Cruelty of Good People. (Inventory #: 60933bd)