Seductio ad Absurdum; The Principles & Practices of Seduction by Hahn, Emily - 1930

New York: Brewer and Warren Inc, 1930. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/good. First printing, duodecimo size, 224 pp. Numerous books have been written on the art of love and relationships, but few in the realm of parody have the biting wit contained in Emily Hahn's (1905-1997) "Seductio ad Absurdum", a satirical look at how men court women; the book is formatted as instructions as to which methods of seduction pair well with which "types" of men and women, followed by a short scene in which the seduction method is played out, utilising humour to examine the social structures and gender dynamics of courtship.

Hahn was an early feminist, a writer of many books and articles for "The New Yorker"; she taught English in Shanghai, China for three years and became acquainted with many prominent figures there, including the Soong sisters, influential political figures at the time and the subject of one of Hahn's books, and the poet Shao Xunmei, with whom Hahn had an affair (n. b., info from Wikipedia). "Seductio ad Absurdum", her first book, is an example of her forceful and acerbic writing style; at the time of this writing, this volume is the only copy online that is a first edition and has the original dust jacket.

___DESCRIPTION: Full orange cloth, purple lettering on the spine; duodecimo size (7.5" by 4.75"), pagination: [i-vi] vii-xxv [xxvi] [1-2] 3-198. In a paper dust jacket with monochrome photograph, purple lettering, and orange rules on the front panel, purple lettering and orange rules on the spine, a description of the book on the rear panel, author bio on the front flap, and a list of other books from the publisher on the rear flap; the dust jacket is unclipped with the original price of $2.00 on the rear panel.

___CONDITION: Volume is very good; with clean boards with the barest hint of soiling to the cloth, a strong square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; boards are slightly cocked, some rubbing to the head and tail of the spine and to the corners, corners of the rear board are gently bumped, some light spots of soiling to the front paste-down endpaper and to the margins of a few pages. Dust jacket is good only, unclipped, with overall soiling and edge wear, sunning to the spine, some chipping to the head and tail of the spine and to the tops and bottoms of the folds at the flaps, with a loss of the letter "S" in "Seductio" on the spine.

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