The Ancient Quest and Other Poems in Brown

New York: Robert J. Shores, 1917. Hardcover. Near Fine. First edition. Offsetting to facing pages from laid in material else near fine lacking the dustwrapper, but with the front panel of the jacket laid in. One of Kauffman's own copy, heavily annotated by him at a later date, apparently in an attempt to cover his deep embarrassment at this early poetic effort, with a long disclaimer on the front pastedown. Aside from many corrections in the text, he has commented on several of the offerings, including his poem *War* Kauffman has initialed his note: "Incredible Sentimentality! RK." At his poem *My Brother* he has commented: "adolescent impudence!" and so on. Laid into the book is carbon of a note that none of these copies is to be given away without the corrections and explanations in the master copy. From a large collection of books we recently purchased from his library. Kauffman was born and lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, although he also maintained homes in Switzerland and Bath, Maine. After graduating from Harvard in 1900, he wrote dozens of stories, mysteries, children's books, and non-fiction titles. He was the editor of the Bangor, Maine *Daily News* from 1941-1947. His novel, *The House of Bondage* was widely praised, specifically by Emma Goldman, as the first serious attempt to explore the problem of women and prostitution.