Very Rare Book
Sanity for Sale by W B Ellis Advance Publishing Advance NC with dust jacket FE rix W
This is a phenomenal, highly unusual find. What you have here is a rare piece of early 20th-century Southern legal and corporate true crime/expose literature.
Here is a professional marketplace listing description tailored to draw in collectors of North Carolina history, the history of psychiatry, and anti-corporate monopoly movements, followed by your character-limited tags and a targeted market valuation.
Item Description
Title: Sanity for Sale: A Story of American Life Since the Civil War
Subtitle: The Story of the Rise and Fall of William B. Ellis, By Himself
Author: W.B. (William B.) Ellis
Publisher: The Advance Publishing Company, Advance, North Carolina
Date/Edition: 1926/1929 True First Edition (FE)
Format: Octavo (8vo) Hardcover with Original Printed Pictorial Dust Jacket
Detailed Description
This is an incredibly scarce, highly gripping first-person expose and legal memoir titled Sanity for Sale, written and self-published by North Carolina tobacco manufacturer William B. Ellis. The narrative serves as a fascinating, dark time capsule of early 20th-century American corporate warfare and institutional corruption.
According to the text and publisher's notes, Ellis successfully built up a prosperous, independent tobacco manufacturing business in Davie County, North Carolina. However, when he refused to be absorbed or crushed by the rising, aggressive "Tobacco Trust" monopoly, corporate conspirators allegedly used legal maneuvers and fraudulent medical testimony to have him wrongfully adjudged insane. He was stripped of his property, bankrupted, and committed to a state asylum.
Written in a raw, vindicating, first-person style akin to historic institutional whistleblower accounts, this book stands as a fierce, independent piece of Tar Heel history. It features original text illustrations and photographs, making it a stellar crossover piece for collectors of anti-monopoly legal history, North Carolina business lore, and the history of psychiatric institutionalization.
Condition Report
Overall Condition: Very Good vintage condition.
Dust Jacket: Present and intact—an extraordinarily rare survival for an obscure, small-town Southern regional press publication. Shows typical, gentle vintage wear including minor edge chipping at the spine ends and light surface rubbing, but the printed graphics and text remain distinct and uncompromised.
Binding & Structure: The publisher's original cloth binding is structurally straight, square, and tight. Hinges are sturdy and completely secure.
Interior: The pages are remarkably flat, clean, and complete. Free from heavy foxing, modern ink marks, or missing plates. Natural uniform background age-toning completely consistent with early 20th-century regional paper stock.