All Fools: Being the Story of Some Very Young Men and a Girl
London, New York: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, The MacMillan Co., 1900. First Edition. 8vo. 381 pp. Publisher's olive green cloth with gilt lettering & ruling. Endpapers just starting to split at front & rear hinges; light wear & bumping to extremities; contemporary owner inscription; small bookseller label inside front cover; else a near fine copy of an uncommon title. Item #17051
Pickthall (1875-1936) was a Western Islamic scholar noted for his English translation of the Qur'an. "All Fools" is his first published novel which, for the time period, "...contained morally problematic passages which were to saddle him in later years with the reputation of a libertine. Even his mother was disturbed by the most offending passage in the book, which used the word ‘stays’, an unmentionable item of Victorian underwear. The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, to whom Pickthall unwisely sent a copy, was similarly agitated, and the young novelist lost many friends. Soon he bought up the unsold copies, and had them destroyed." He went on to become one of the bestselling English novelists of the day.
Price: $150.00