Victorious Democracy, the title page of a 1900 campaign biography of William J. Bryan

Victorious Democracy is a 562-page campaign biography of William J. Bryan by Richard L. Metcalf, published in Chicago by The Dominion Company in 1900. Its title page calls Bryan "THE FEARLESS AND BRILLIANT LEADER OF THE PEOPLE" and closes with a life of Adlai E. Stevenson and "DEMOCRATIC ISSUES OF 1900," credited to A. J. Munson.

What the page promises

A campaign biography sells its subject before the first chapter, and this title page does most of the selling in one long subtitle. The archive's record covers the page only, from a scan of a Library of Congress copy at the Internet Archive. It describes a book of 562 pages, with a Library of Congress copyright stamp on the next leaf dated August 1900.

Victorious Democracy

EMBRACING

LIFE AND PATRIOTIC SERVICES

OF

HON. WILLIAM J. BRYAN

THE FEARLESS AND BRILLIANT LEADER OF THE PEOPLE AND CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

A SKETCH FROM THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER TO THE HIGH POSITION HE HOLDS IN THE AFFECTIONS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN--AN AFFECTION WON BY HIS DEVOTION AND LOYALTY TO THE WELFARE OF THE TOILING MASSES OF AMERICA

By RICHARD L. METCALF

THE WELL KNOWN AUTHOR AND EDITOR OF THE OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

[...]

THE DOMINION COMPANY,

PUBLISHER FINE BOOKS,

CHICAGO, U.S.A.

The adjectives

The archive tags one technique, glittering generalities, and the page supplies plenty. Bryan is "THE FEARLESS AND BRILLIANT LEADER OF THE PEOPLE," a man who holds "THE AFFECTIONS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN," an affection won "BY HIS DEVOTION AND LOYALTY TO THE WELFARE OF THE TOILING MASSES OF AMERICA." The services it records are "PATRIOTIC." None of those phrases is a fact a reader could check. They describe how the author wants Bryan seen.

The title itself, Victorious Democracy, names a victory on a page that still calls Bryan "CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." That is the same move the 1836 Ohio tickets make with balloons that say "Van will beat." A title page cannot argue; it can only announce, and this one announces victory.

Authors and publisher

The title page prints the author's name as "METCALF"; the archive notes that the Internet Archive catalog spells it "Metcalfe." The book concludes with a life of Adlai E. Stevenson, "CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT," and "DEMOCRATIC ISSUES OF 1900," credited on the page to A. J. Munson, "AUTHOR AND EDITOR." The Dominion Company of Chicago, "PUBLISHER FINE BOOKS," promised the volume "SPLENDIDLY ILLUSTRATED WITH HALF-TONE PORTRAITS AND VIEWS."

The other side of 1900 is the McKinley Was Right poster, which set idle chimneys against smoking ones. Bryan's 1896 ticket is on this site in Amos Currier's Bryan and Sewall broadside. The campaign print hub runs to 1900.