To the Friends of The American Mercury: A Statement by the Editor

[New York]: The American Mercury, 1926. Paperback. 8vo. Green wrappers. (6pp). Fair plus. Actually a decent example of this remarkably fragile production, printed on thin limp stock -- which explains its exceptional scarcity, for its poor production quality assured a low survival rate. While fairly attractive and even with caution handleable, the original single horizontal fold is present, there are a couple of corner chips and the original stapled fold is slightly separated and delicate. Mencken explains the infamous "Hatrack" case, in which a Massachusetts society tried to prevent the sale of the April 1926 issue of "The American Mercury" because of articles in it they deemed obscene -- sparking a controversial case in which Mencken sued the Post Office. Mencken won and made his point, and the "Hatrack Censorship Case" is now considered a landmark free-speech case. Despite delicate condition, a quite presentable and displayable first edition of this rarity.