THE EVIDENCES AGAINST CHRISTIANITY
New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1857. Hardcover. Second edition, revised and expanded. Inscribed in the first volume to pioneer ethnographer, cultural crusader, and civic booster Charles F. Lummis by Franklin T. Hittell, the author's nephew. Octavo, two volumes: xix, [1, blank], 321, [1, blank], [2, ads] pp. + vi, 318 pp. Original brown cloth bindings, with blind-stamped decorations and gilt titles. Partially unopened. Light foxing to the endpapers, with some mild shelfwear to the boards; otherwise very good.
Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Hittell (1825-1901) graduated from Miami University (Ohio) and practiced law before joining a company of adventureres en route to the gold fields of California. He spent the winter of 1849-50 in the mines of Reading's Diggings, then worked on Cottonwood Creek. After moderate success, he gave up the gold hunt in May 1850 and settled in Sonoma. In 1852, he moved to San Francisco and joined the editorial staff of Alta California, where he remained employed for the following 25 years. He also wrote several important books on California, including Yosemite: Its Wonders and Its Beauties (1868) and A History of the City of San Francisco, and Incidentally of the State of California (1878), as well as this controversial work in which Hittell employs "pantheistic evidence" against the supersitions of Christianity. Though widely condemned, it elicited praise from those associated with Transcendentalism and the Freethought movement. Nevertheless, Hittell later regretted the work and actively worked to suppress it. Very good. Item #75917
Price: $350.00