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Two handwritten manuscripts by Albert Webster Edgerly, the founder of the Ralstonism Movement, a late 19th Century movement that stressed a healthy diet, questionable science, and the use of personal magnetism to control others. The manuscripts consist of: 1. *All's Well That Ends Well: The Great Story of the Day!* Handwritten manuscript novel. 19 signatures of 24 leaves, each totaling 904 numbered pages. The first signature lacks the first leaf (probably a cover leaf or title page) and the conjugate leaf (pages 39/40). Modest toning and foxing, mostly on the first and last leaf, a few hand corrections, but overall a clean and probably final draft manuscript copy, very good or better. A very long novel described in the first sentence as: "The history of a young lady during her three years course through the High School of Lynn; her first entrance and introduction to the Teachers; her opinion of the school and bright prospects for future happiness therein; her bright hopes clouded and obscured; her struggles for the right; despondency and recklessness, and the final, glorious end which awaited her after all her troubles." An extremely lengthy and melodramatic unpublished manuscript. Each of the 45 chapters (except the last) has a brief or several sentences long introduction summarizing what is in the chapter, which, in addition to the trials and tribulations of the heroine Minnie Marsh, includes such intriguing chapters such as Chapter 17: "George Marsh's visit to the Lawrence Cotton Factory. Death of George!"; Chapter 19: "Mr. Browning 'washes his hands of the whole affair.' Minnie is locked in the Room of Disgrace"; and Chapter 22: "The three telegrams. George saved by Galvanism. Minnie's interview with Mr. Graham. His opinion of her." 2. *A Guide to Moral Elevation; or, Fifty Resolutions Formed on New Year's Day by Lizzie E. Edgerly to be Devotely Kept during the Year 1876: Lynn, December 31 - 1875 To L.E.E. from A.W.E*. This second manuscript is a small notebook (5" x 3.5") with a thin crepe purple cover with canvas spine. Some creases on the front cover, else near fine. Apparently a New Year's gift prepared by Edgerly for his sister. Two page title and introduction followed by 50 handwritten pages, each with a resolution. Most of the advice is whimsical: "No. 6: I will never speak an angry word if there is nobody present to hear me"; "No. 29: I will never stutter while calling the cat"; "No. 40: I will tell the truth on Sundays"; and "No. 44: I will never shed tears when I cry." Edgerly was a lawyer from Lynn, Massachusetts who founded a health club and soon after began to author the first of his several dozen self-help books (mostly under a pseudonym, Edmund Shaftsbury). He was the founder of the Ralstonism Movement, a late 19th and early 20th Century movement that stressed a healthy diet, questionable science, the use of personal magnetism to control others, sexual magnetism and related sexual eccentricity (each man should engage in a probationary marriage with someone the age of his grandmother), white supremacy rants, and various other quaint and/or questionable practices. One of his self-help books endorsed the consumption of whole grain cereals. William Danforth of Purina Mills, who manufactured a similar cereal, sought and received the endorsement of Edgerly for his cereals and renamed the company Ralston-Purina. Two almost unpublished manuscripts by the founder of the Ralstonism Movement. It is certainly likely that Edgerly also wrote the novel for his sister. The novel would benefit from further analysis or study. N° de réf. du vendeur 415740
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