The Writing on the Wall. In Three Parts. Past, Present and Future. By H. Glynn-Ward.

Vancouver: Sun Publishing Co., (1921). First edition.. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Some discoloration of covers, splitting along rear hinge, moderate wear to corners, a very good copy. A racist yellow-peril novel, which was republished by the University of Toronto in 1974, with an introduction by Patricia E. Roy. From the U of T site: "With tales of a gruesome murder, a typhoid epidemic, corrupt politicians, and a Japanese invasion, The Writing on the Wall was intended to shock its readers when it was published in 1921. Thinly disguised as a novel, it is a propaganda tract exhorting white British Columbians to greater vigilance to prevent greedy politicians from selling out to the Chinese and Japanese. It was also designed to convince eastern Canada of British Columbia's need for protections against an onslaught of the 'yellow peril.'" The final part, set in the future, concludes with the white population of Vancouver dying from Typhoid Fever, contracted from vegetables and sugar supplied by the local Chinese merchants. A very scarce book in the first edition.