Francis Willing Wharton Autographed Manuscript 1899 Atlantic Monthly Rebuttal For Sale

Francis Willing Wharton Signed Manuscript 1899 Atlantic Monthly Rebuttal Autograph

Francis Willing Wharton Signed Manuscript 1899 Atlantic Monthly Rebuttal Autograph

Offered here is an exceptional, complete four-page original typed and hand-corrected manuscript written and signed by noted turn-of-the-century American fiction author Francis Willing Wharton. Dating to late 1899, this unique intellectual artifact is a fierce, point-by-point rebuttal to the controversial essay \"The United States and Rome\" written by Henry Dwight Sedgwick Jr., which was published in the October 1899 issue of The Atlantic Monthly (Vol. 84, No. 504). In the essay, Sedgwick famously prophesied that American democracy would naturally slide toward the centralized authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This manuscript captures Wharton\'s immediate, passionate defense of individual conscience, American nationality, and Anglo-Saxon cultural principles. Across the four pages, she systematically dismantles Sedgwick\'s thesis, citing historical examples from Spain, France, and Italy, before concluding that a true American society requires a personal spiritual relationship free of Papal or priestly interposition.

Key Features for Collectors and Archives:

• Complete Work: Consists of all four consecutive pages (numbered 1 through 4), tracking the complete intellectual arc of Wharton\'s argument.
• Authentic Ink Signature: Signed boldly on the final page in ink: \"Francis Willing Wharton\".
• Extensive Working Corrections: Pages 1, 2, and 3 feature extensive inline handwritten ink edits, strikethroughs, and textual corrections detailing the author\'s live creative process.
• Excellent Display Condition: The typewriter ink and handwritten corrections remain dark and highly legible. The vintage bond paper shows natural toning and horizontal folds consistent with age, with no major tears or compromises to the text.

This is a rare opportunity to acquire a complete, unique piece of late-19th-century American literary debate linking two prominent authors of the Atlantic Monthly circle.

[ Frances Willing Wharton (born Frances Willing Lockwood, b.1869-d.1966) was a popular turn-of-the-century short story writer whose relationship to the Wharton School is indirectly familial through marriage. She was connected through the prominent Wharton family of Philadelphia, the exact lineage that produced the school\'s founder: The Family Connection: Frances married Henry Wharton (1867-1933), a wealthy Philadelphia coal industrialist. Her husband belonged to the prominentPhiladelphia Wharton family line. Joseph Wharton, the industrialist who founded and endowed the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, was part of this same extended, influential Philadelphia family network. Literary Circle & Relatives: Because of her marriage into the family, Frances and her husband were also cousins to the famous Pulitzer Price-winning novelist Edith Wharton. Frances wrote witty, urbane short stories about the “skirmishes between the sexes” for major literary publications of her era like Harper’s,

The Cosmopolitan, and The Atlantic. Edith Wharton frequently visited Frances at her summer home in Saunderstown, Rhode Island.]

Shipping and Handling:

Will be shipped flat in a clear rigid archival sleeve and securely packed.

Please review the high-resolution photos to inspect the unique handwritten edits and the signature details.

(please see pictures)

THIS IS NOT A REPRODUCTION.

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