Perfecting the Earth: A Piece of Possible History
Cleveland, Ohio: The Utopia Publishing Company, 1902.
Hardcover. 9" X 6 1/8". 326pp. Dark blue-green cloth over boards, with upper board and spine lettered in gilt. Mild edgewear and soiling to binding, with white stains and faint ring stain to upper board. Hinges a touch tender; binding remains sound and firm. Narrow, small strip affixed to rear flyleaf, perhaps anti-theft, with bookseller label of Rain Dog Books to rear pastedown. White and green patterned endpapers. Small open tear to margin of leaf containing pages 295 and 296. Erased bookseller notations to flyleaf and occasional toning, particularly to pages 46 and 47, else pages are clean and unmarked. A presentable copy of C. W. Wooldridge's scientific utopian vision for "Fort Goodwill," an ideal community founded in 1913 and built by excess troops forming an industrial army, complete with frontispiece and 13 illustrations and diagrams drawn by the author concerning city planning. In contrast to the more fictional and idealistic utopias of the past, Wooldridge intended this work to be "a Utopian book, [whose] Utopia is not, as Utopias generally are said to be, in the clouds." Instead, Wooldridge sets out a scientific, logical, step-by-step, and detailed utopian project. A fascinating future-history look into early 20th century utopian ambitions, with insights into the scientific understanding of urban planning at the time and anticipated political narratives surrounding such a project. Very good. Item #2626
Price: $40.00