Perfection City
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1897. Very Good. Item #47090
New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1897. First Edition. Octavo; tan cloth boards stamped in red and black; dark topstain; 310pp. + publisher's advertisements. Mild shelfwear and moderate spotting to boards; slight lean but binding sound; old dampstaining along bottom edge but text unaffected; a Very Good copy.
Born on a slave plantation in Virginia, Orpen and her father eventually moved to the free state of Kansas, which would serve as the setting for this work, in which Eastern settlers arrive in a commune established by Mme. Morozov-Smith. Perfection City is first hailed as an "earthly paradise" but eventually "the city disbands as villagers realize that not the ways of the world but 'the human heart needed reforming first of all.'" Arpen herself had moved to Ireland in 1867 after her father inherited an estate, though her experiences in Kansas clearly tugged at her memory, as she wrote this novel and a memoir, "Memories of the old emigrant days in Kansas, 1862–1865," in 1926. Uncommon in retail.
Kessler p. 244; Dictionary of Irish Biography.
Price: $150.00