THE DANCE OF LIFE

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1926. First Edition, fifteenth printing. With two autographed letters signed by Ellis. The two letters are folded (as mailed) and both in a single envelope addressed to David McCord at Brown & Shipley in London. The envelope is tipped to the front endpaper. First letter: A one-page autographed letter signed, on his Dover Mansions stationery, dated August 1, 1927. To David McCord, who worked for Brown & Shipley in London. In 1825, the new trading firm financed merchants who were shipping goods between Britain, the United States and other parts of Europe and the Americas. Over the years, the trading activities ceased and its merchant banking activities grew. The company still exists "Dear Mr. McCord, I shall be pleased to meet you, but on it presents only brief & uncertain hints to London. At the moment I am here but am leaving in an hour or two. But if possible I will run up next week. I may be able to arrange a meeting for later Wednesday afternoon. -But I will I will write again about this. Sincerely yours, Havelock Ellis," Second letter: Two-page autograph letter signed, on his Dover mansions stationery, dated Sept. 4, 1927. Also, to David McCord. "Little Frieth, Hanley-on-Thames. Dear Mr. McCord I find that it is on Thursday next that I shall be at Brinton & I should be phoned if you can call at 5 in the afternoon of the day. If that is inconvenient for you perhaps you will kindly send me a line to Frieth, not later this Tuesday. A bus from Trafalgar Square- no. 3 or 58 or 59 (1597)- brings you in twenty minutes to Graham Road, a few (yards?) from Dover Mansions. Sincerely yours, Havelock Ellis." '"Little Frieth" is a cottage in Buckinghamshire that Ellis rented during the summers of 1925 through 1928. Havelock Ellis [1859-1939], was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer, who studied human sexuality. He co-authored, with John Addington Symonds, the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, "Sexual Inversion." The 1897 English translation is preceded by the 1896 German edition. Ellis also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He is credited with introducing the concepts of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis. Ellis was among the pioneering investigators of psychedelic drugs and authored of one of the first written reports to the public about an experience with mescaline, which he conducted on himself in 1896. "The Dance of Life" is one of Ellis's most popular philosophical work- a survey of modern civilization giving the author's own outlook on life. With Two Autographed Letters Signed.. Very Good (spine lightly sunned & dull; contents clean & tight). "David McCord, Cambridge, June, 1926" written in ink on front endpaper.