OPTIMISM, AN ESSAY
1903 · New York
by Keller, Helen
New York: T. Y. Crowell and Company. (Printed by D. B. Updike at The Merrymount Press), 1903. First edition. Small 8vo. 76 pp, Chapter head and tail-piece vignettes; title page printed in red and black. Laid in are a 1928 typed fund raising letter for the American Foundation for the Blind from Keller, signed by her in pencil, on her Forest Hill., N.Y., letterhead, to "Mr. Calkins" (probably Earnest Elmo Calkins, 1968-1964, a deaf advertising executive who pioneered "consumer engineering"), a small foundation card printing the Braille alphabet and numerals, and a foundation leaflet, with a mounted portrait photograph of Keller on the front cover, printing a brief history of education for the blind and testimonials for several state and local associations and schools for the blind. Very good. Original red and gilt-stamped decorated green cloth, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. (11091). (Inventory #: 61315)