Harmony Society, at Economy, Penn'a. Founded by George Rapp, A.D. 1805
Item #74458
WILLIAMS, Aaron. The Harmony Society, at Economy, Penn'a. Founded by George Rapp, A.D. 1805. Pittsburgh: W.S. Haven, 1866. 1st ed. 182pp. Later patterned boards. Titlepage and Prefatory Note professionally mounted, else very good. HOWES W-445: "Includes a chapter on this Society's earlier establishment in Indiana." Adams, Radical Literature in America, p. 40. Streeter VII, 4278. One of the rarest of Utopian works of the 19th century. Rapp founded a successful theocratic communistic society in the United States, moving his community 3 times before establishing the town of Economy, Pennsylvania. The hard-working community enjoyed the fruits of their labors and eventually became quite wealthy. The Society declined and became extinct due, for the most part, to the adoption of the practice of celibacy in 1807. "An excellent history with a discussion of [the Harmony Society's] religious principles, burial customs, and numerous other matters of information about the practices of the Society."-Karl J.R. Arndt, George Rapp's Harmony Society, p.669.
Price: $450.00