ALLONBY, Edith.

£500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Fulfilment. First edition, first impression, of this uncommon posthumously published novel. Edith Allonby (1875-1905) was a headmistress and author. She wrote three fantasy novels, this being her last.Her first two works, Jewel Sowers (1903) and Marigold (1905), were satirical fantasies set on the imaginary planet of Lucifram. This third work, a spiritual fantasy about life and death that she claimed had been given to her directly by God, was a clear divergence, and her publisher was hesitant about its marketability. While Allonby was determined to get the work published, every publisher she contacted rejected the potentially controversial work. Allonby herself wrote that the book contained "either truth or page upon page of blasphemy".In December 1905, Allonby was found in her room with an empty bottle of phenol (carbolic acid) at her side, the poison of choice for many suicides in the UK at that time. In her lap was a note which suggested her desire to see the work published as the reason behind her death. In the note she wrote that, "I have tried in vain... yet shall The Fulfilment reach the people to whom I appeal, for I have found another way". Her death caused a sensation and did indeed prompt Greening to publish the manuscript in the present edition, which proved an immediate success.

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