[NATIVE AMERICAN CHIEF AND A RABBI]. John Dorn Promoter

Chicago: Monarch Book Co, 1906. FIRST EDITION. Very good. 8vo. Illustrations by August Abelmann. Original brick-red publisher's cloth, blocked in gilt, ochre, and black. Some dust-soiling on the top edges and front binder's blank, otherwise unmarked and free from ugly stamps. A lovely copy, the text and binding in crisp and fresh state. NOT ex-library! UNKNOWN CIVIL WAR-ERA WEIRDNESS. "John Dorn Promoter" is quite unlike anything we have encountered hitherto. Briefly, it is proported to be a romance novel but some of the main themes are the timber industry and renewable forestry, the perilous state of Native Americans and their lands, the absence of business opportunities for women, and the plight of American Jews. It features a swindling Count, a heroic Indian Chief (Eagle Wing) and his side-kick (a Rabbi), and -- bizarrly -- miniature "Thought-Elfs" and telepathy. Is this the start of a bad joke? And of course, this couldn't be a "real" romance novel without sexual tensions and a subplot of good vs. evil.

The novel commences in the South after the Civil War when a young man returns home to find nothing left, and no one remaining. The once grand Virginia estate is in shambles and the tobacco fields are overgrown; the young man stares at the ruins, turns, and says farewell. The young man goes to Yale, gets married, and decides to return and fix up the estate; the scheme fails of course (how could it be otherwise). The couple and their daughter, Helen Chadbourne, move north to Chicago. Although adept at business, Helen finds few opportunities for women and wants to dedicate her life to helping others. However, she does find the love of of two men: John Dorn and Ned Danvers, and she inspires each of them to have chthonic spiritual experiences (sic). Helen's uncle is negotiating for the lumber rights to Indian lands on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Helen identifies with Chief Eagle Wing's plight of wanting to aid his impoverished tribe, while not wanting to destroy their land. Her uncle believes only clear-cutting timber will be financially viable; Helen convinces Dorn and Danvers not only to aid the Indian tribe with money, but ensure that they will still be able to live in a forest.

Dorn comes up with a plan to create the Lumber Securities Company, a syndicate of the leaders of the timber industry, who would agree to a renewable forestry plan. Helen inspires Dorn to help impoverished Jewish immigrants by creating a lending library and a savings bank. She then inspires Danvers to become a writer, and through the aid of Chief Eagle Wing, Danvers is able to reveal his deepest thoughts to Helen telepathically (sic!). But there are evil forces at work in Chicago that seek to destroy the Lumber Securities Company through stock manipulation. At a crucial moment, Eagle Wing and the Rabbi (whom Helen has aided) combine forces to defeat evil men. "The forces of spiritual enlightenment win, Danvers writes a play with a spiritual theme that is a great success, Dorn wins Helen for his bride, and everyone involved with the Lumber Securities Company stands to make a fortune" (SOURCE: James A. Kaser, The Chicago of Fiction: A Resource Guide, no. 86 and pp. 30-31).

Our copy is preserved in outstanding condition and is likely to be the finest and freshest in private ownership. (Inventory #: 4258)