MECHANISM IN THOUGHT AND MORALS. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, JUNE 29, 1870. WITH NOTES AND AFTERTHOUGHTS Inscribed to a former Speaker of the House by HOLMES, Oliver Wendell - 1871

Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1871. First Edition. Hardcover. Typical chipping to spine tips; spine sunned but gilt still clear. Near Fine. First Printing in original purple cloth. BAL 8876: 1500 copies printed. One of a small number of copies with a correction in the author's hand on page 23. In addition this copy is INSCRIBED "With the kind regards of" and SIGNED by the author to R. C. Winthrop, American orator and statesman, a descendant of Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop (1588-1649). Bookplate on front pastedown of noted collector Carroll Atwood Wilson. ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP (1809-1894) graduated from Harvard in 1828, studied law with Daniel Webster, and in 1831 was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in1834-1840, for the last three years as speaker, and in 1840 was elected to the national House of Representatives as a Whig, serving from December 1840 to 1850. He soon became prominent and was speaker of the Thirtieth Congress (1847-1849). On the resignation of Daniel Webster to become secretary of state, Winthrop was appointed to the Senate (July 1850) but was defeated in the Massachusetts legislature for the short term (Jan. 30, 1851) and for the long term (April 24, 1851) by a coalition of Democrats and Free Soilers and served only until February 1851. In the same year he received a plurality of the votes cast for governor, but as the constitution required a majority vote, the election was thrown into the legislature, where he was defeated by the same coalition. Thereafter, he was never a candidate for political office. Among his noteworthy orations of a patriotic character were those delivered at Boston in 1876, at Yorktown in 1881, and in Washington on the completion of the Washington Monument in 1885.