Star-Flowers: the Woman's Mystery. Canto the Seventh

Fountaingrove, CA: Privately printed, 1887. First Edition. Octavo (23.5cm). Brown cloth, titled in gilt to front cover with gilt rules; 119pp. A fresh, fine copy.

Part VII (only) of this epic poem by the Anglo-American utopian and mystic Thomas Lake Harris, which was published at the press of Harris' utopian community "Fountaingrove" (now part of Santa Rosa, California) in nine parts between 1886 and 1888. To the degree that meaning can be pinched out of Harris' heavily symbolic, endlessly rambling nonet form, the poem - like much of his work - focuses on the mystical and spiritual aspects of gender and sexuality, with woman elevated to a (truncated) quasi-divine status. All volumes are somewhat scarce, especially in this condition. (Inventory #: 84872)