Theophilus the Battle-Axe : A History of the Lives and Adventures of Theophilus Ransom Gates and the Battle-Axes

Philadelphia: Charles C. Sellers, 1930. First edition. No. 114 of 300 copies signed by Sellers to the copyright page. 67pp; illus; four plates, including frontispiece. 8vo; marbled paper boards with cream cloth backstrip and tips; black spine titles; printed paper title-card mounted to front board. Light shelfwear and exterior soiling, else near fine; a nice copy.

A engagingly written biography of American religious leader Theophilus Ransom Gates (1787-1846), founder of the "Battle Axes," a cult-like Christian sect based in a section of Southeastern Pennsylvania that came to be known as "Free Love Valley" in recognition of the community's unusual adherence to tenets of nudism and free-love. Well represented institutionally, but quite scarce in the trade.