Boston: Christian Scientist Publishing Company, 1875. First edition, first issue (one of only 1,000 copies printed). 8vo. (ii, blank), 456, (2, blank), (2, errata) pp.; pp. 367/368 mounted on stub. Publisher's black cloth-covered boards, stamped in blind and in gilt, rebacked with original spine laid down, light wear in upper fore-edge of front and rear boards; all edges trimmed; traces of erased pencil inscription on front free endpaper; scattered spotting to text; in quarter tan morocco solander box. Howes E-42 ("c...quite rare, obtainable only with much difficulty"); Grolier, American 78; Streeter VII: 4281; Printing and the Mind of Man, 363

A handsome first edition of the principal text of the Christian Science Movement. A student of faith healer Dr. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, Mary Baker Glover (later Mary Baker Eddy) established her own successful, and lucrative, lecture series on faith healing, eventually outgrowing her mentor. This first edition was published in an edition of only 1,000 copies, with the aid of two of her students, beginning in 1874. Despite its poor sales--only 235 copies sold in the first few months--its popularity grew as it became the textbook for the new religion known as Christian Science, and by 1900 over 250 editions were published. "In spite of the mechanical faults of her book and the controversial nature of many of her teachings, Mary Baker Eddy was far ahead of her time in the emphasis she placed upon positive thinking, a force which modern psychology was belated in recognizing. The movement which has grown out of her teachings has had an influence in the world far beyond the size of its membership" (PMM).