I, Mary MacLane

New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1917. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Duodecimo (20 cm), pp. 317. Red cloth with navy blue and gilt-stamped titling. Frontispiece author photo with tissue guard. Previous owner's name, dated 1923, on front free endpaper. Small bookseller sticker on rear pastedown. Bumping to spine ends. No jacket.This is the third book by MacLane, a "Canadian-born American writer and pioneering feminist whose frank autobiographical account of her life—written at age 19 and published as The Story of Mary MacLane—by Herself in 1902—became an instant best-seller and made her a celebrity for two decades," writes Ohio State University professor Julia Watson. "Called the 'Wild Woman of Butte,' she used a Modernist confessional style to express erotic desires. She was largely forgotten until feminist interest in women’s lives revived her work during the 1970s." In a tribute to women in Montana's history, the Missoulian noted, "She was a sensation, hailed by some as a literary genius, scolded by others who said what she needed was 'a good spanking.' She wrote about drugs, death, the Devil (whom she said she wished to marry if he ever appeared, with steely gray eyes), bisexuality and angst. Her frank language shocked the country, and is seen by some as a precursor to the Flapper era." (March 1995)