A POEM ON INDUSTRY. ADDRESSED TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BY COLONEL DAVID HUMPHREYS, MINISTER RESIDENT AT THE COURT OF LISBON.
Philadelphia: Printed for Mathew Carey, October 14, 1794. iv, [3], 8-22, [2-publ. advts.] pp; plus the rear plain wrapper, with contemporary signatures of Moses Hatch. Disbound with some loosening. The final advertising leaf, frequently absent, is present. Portions of some margins foxed. Good+.
Humphreys, a Revolutionary hero and aide to George Washington, was also a diplomat, poet, and one of the Connecticut Wits. He established the first successful American woolen mill in 1806. The last leaf advertises 'Books, published by M. Carey.'
"This pamphlet poem written in heroic couplets may be the first major American poem on industrialization. Humphreys maintains that he has written out of patriotic motives, since industry holds great promise for the new nation. The poem's speaker enumerates factories' benefits, such as providing employment to poor women, children, and aged. Poor women will be 'rescu'd' from prostitution, it is suggested. Humphrey's speaker finds factory machinery wonderful and ingenious..." [Ranta, WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE MILLS. AN ANNOTATED GUIDE TO NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN TEXTILE FACTORY LITERATURE. Westport: 1999. Page 171]
Evans 27145. Wegelin 225. Rink 2959 [8]. Item #39897
Price: $500.00