Rapara or the Right of the Individual in the State
London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1897.
Octavo, xxiv (last blank), 296 pages.
Tan cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, and lettered and decorated in black on the front cover; cloth a little marked, unevenly discoloured, and a little bumped at the extremities; endpapers heavily tanned; text paper tanned and tending to be brittle; minor conservation to the inner hinge of the half-title and title leaves; trifling signs of age and use; a very good copy.
The inscription on the half-title reads: 'Presented to J.G. Le Brun by the Author Archibald Forsyth. Sydney 1 Feb 1901'. Archibald Forsyth (1826-1908), ropemaker and politician, was born in Scotland; in 1848 he migrated to Sydney. He worked variously as a cedar-getter, gold miner, and sawmiller, 'and in 1862 he founded Forsyth & Anthony, general merchants. Persuaded by the ropemaker James Miller, a boyhood friend, Forsyth sold out in 1864 and the next year founded Sydney's first "rope and cordage" works' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). The business proved to be a great success. 'Well known as a philanthropist, Forsyth presented a new horse-drawn ambulance to the Civil Ambulance Brigade. In 1897 he published "Rapara or the Rights of the Individual in the State", the history of a utopian settlement in the South Pacific founded on protection and land nationalization. Although the book was criticized in "Liberty", it was "admitted that Mr Forsyth has the welfare of humanity at heart''' (ADB).
Item #122810
Price (AUD):
$200.00