The Dream of the Magi

London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1923 Hard cover, 12mo., pp 43 [1]. Signed by author. Limited edition: number 148 of the 250 for sale; (another 30 for presentation.) Printed by Richard Clay & Sons Ltd., Printers, Bunguay, Suffolk. In publisher's quarter cream cloth, over blue covered paper boards. Paper label to front cover, and gold lettering to spine. Plain olive-gray dust jacket with titles to front and spine. Fore-edge of text block untrimmed. Condition: Very Good. Light foxing throughout. Light shelf wear to bottom edge of covers. Author signature on limitation page "goes over" to gutter of p. 15 (signed when sheets were unbound presumably.) Dust jacket dust-soiled on spine, with tiny loss to head of spine, now protected in mylar. ** Wonderful orientalist story of the journey the Magi took across the desert to Bethlehem. Inspired by the image of the sleeping Magi on the walls of Sant Abbondio church in Como, Italy. ** Scottish politician and author, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (1852-1936), was the child of a Scottish admiral and a Spanish noblewoman. He grew up on a family ranch in Argentina, and was there kidnapped by rebel gauchos, who named him "Don Roberto". He escaped, but retained a lifelong desire to help the underclass. He married a "Chilean poetess", Gabrielade la Belmondiere, who was actually a British actress, Caroline Horsfall. Together they travelled through France, Germany, America and finally Mexico, where Graham taught fencing and his wife taught guitar. On his father's death in 1883, Graham returned to Scotland to manage the family estates at Gartmore (near Stirling, in central Scotland). Like many landed gentry, he turned to politics and was elected to Parliament as a Liberal. Graham did not care much for the niceties of Parliamentary etiquette, and was the first MP ever to be suspended for swearing (he said "damn"!). He fought for such basics as the the abolition of the House of Lords (an unelected chamber) and for an eight-hour working day. He founded the Scottish Labour Party along with James Keir Hardie in 1888, and became its first president. His political career was derailed when, as a prospective Labour MP, he failed to win the seat for Glasgow Camlachie in 1892. ** Graham then turned to his adventurous past to become a writer. He was known for travel books, as well as for atmospheric short stories, or "literary sketches", and was also named the "prince of the preface" for his many contributions to other books. In "A Vanished Arcadia" (1901) he described the treatment of the Indians in Paraguay under both the Jesuits as well as the Spanish colonial leaders. The 1986 film "The Mission" was loosely based on Graham's book. OCLC 12033236.. Limited Edition signed. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.