(THOMAS B. MOSHER) FATHER DAMIEN. An Open Letter to the Reverend Doctor Hyde of Honolulu From Robert Louis Stevenson. Foreword. Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, 1909. 3-1/2 x 6-1/4 inches; [14], [8], 31, [7] pages. "Four Hundred and Fifty Copies of this Book (Ninth Edition) have been Printed on Van Gelder Hand-made Paper, and the Type Distributed, in the Month of June, A.D. Mdccccix, at the Press of George D. Loring, Portland, Maine." 

Sewn into Japan Vellum wrappers, titled on spine, titled and illustrated on front. Illustrated with a frontispiece of Father Damien by Edward Clifford printed on Japan vellum, other decorations throughout. 

Father Damien worked among the lepers in Hawaii in the mid to late 19th-century, dying there when he contracted the disease. His work and character were defamed by Reverend Hyde of Honolulu, his superior. Stevenson, knowing the true character of the Father, and outraged at Hyde's libelous attack on the priest, became incensed and wrote this elegant and powerful open letter in defense of Father Damien  countering Hyde's unfounded accusations. It is now a part of the Stevenson literary canon, and one of the finest letters in the English language. It is often compared to Zola's J'accuse relating to the Dreyfus affair. In 2009 Father Damien was canonized as a Saint in the Catholic church.