[William Walker Stephens, Edinburgh merchant and inventor.] Autograph Letter Signed to Frederic Harrison, presenting a copy of his book ‘Higher Life for Working People’, intended to counter ‘revolutionary “Socialism”’ and ‘Social mal-adjustments’.

See Harrison's entry in the Oxford DNB. Previous to the appearance in 1899 of ‘Higher Life for Working People’ Stephens had published a life of Turgot in 1895. Both appeared with the long-established London publishers Longmans. He was sole trustee of the soap manufacturers William Taylor & Co when it failed in 1883. He was also an inventor: in 1853 the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts noticed his patent relating to ‘retorts in gas-ovens’. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Twenty-five lines of text. In fair condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘Frederic Harrison Esq’ and with good firm signature ‘Wm W Stephens’. He has ‘directed Messrs Longmans to forward to you a Presentation Copy of a small work I have just published: “Higher Life for Working People” / My endeavour has been to show that for the Social mal-adjustments that exist we have adequate remedies at hand and that a wise use of these in line with the aspirations of working people reasonably satisfied revolutionary “Socialism” would be deprived of the strength it derives from present discontent -’. He ends in the hope that Harrison will peruse the work, after ‘some convenient interval’.