 Rare and unusual books! |  |
Rare and unusual books! | |
| Book Title: | Dismal England By The Author Of Merrie England |  |
| Author: | Robert Blatchford | |
| Publisher: | Walter Scott Ltd, London | |
| Year: | 1901 | |
| Blue cloth original 12mo hardback with gilt embossed lettering and designs to front and spine, 240 pp gilt upper page edges, frontis with guard paper, light wear to extremities, light bumping and shelf-wear, inscription front end page, bookseller's stamp, slighlty foxed, starting a little, no dust cover, o/w vg+ condition. | ||
| Merrie England was a popular textbook on socialism, written in simple and vigorous English. This book extends the argument, drawing on examples from the lives of working people. It was said of the writer that no man did more than he to make socialism understood by the ordinary working man. He based his appeal on the principles of human justice and preached socialism as a system of industrial co-operation for the common good. His arguments and illustrations were drawn from facts and experiences within the knowledge of the common people.
Robert Blatchford The son of an actor, Robert Blatchford was born in Maidstone in 1851. His father died when he was two and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed as a brushmaker. He disliked the work and ran away to join the army. Blatchford reached the rank of sergeant major before leaving the service in 1878. After trying a variety of different jobs he became a freelance journalist. After working for several newspapers he became leader writer for the Sunday Chronicle in Manchester. It was his journalistic experience of working-class life that turned Blatchford into a socialist. In 1890 Blatchford founded the Manchester Fabian Society. The following year, Blatchford and four fellow members launched a socialist newspaper, The Clarion. Blatchford, who was editor, announced that the newspaper would follow a "policy of humanity; a policy not of party, sect or creed; but of justice, of reason and mercy." The first edition sold 40,000 and after a few months settled down to about 30,000 copies a week. It was decided in 1893 to publish some of Blatchford's articles about socialism as a book. Merrie England, was an immediate success, with the cheap edition selling over 2,000,000 copies. Influenced by the ideas of William Morris, Blatchford emphasized the importance of the arts and the values of the countryside. Considered to be an excellent example of socialist propaganda, the book was translated into several different languages. Blatchford upset many of his socialist supporters by his nationalistic views on foreign policy. He supported the government during the Boer War and warned against what he saw was the German menace. Blatchford also changed his views on equal rights and strongly opposed the policies of the NUWSS and the WSPU. After the First World War Blatchford moved to the right and became a passionate advocate of the British Empire. In the 1924 General Election he supported the Conservative Party and declared that Stanley Baldwin was Britain's finest politician. Robert Blatchford died on 17th December 1943. | ||
| Price: £29.99 | ||
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