Very Scarce

Cunard, Nancy : Spender, Stephen : Auden, W.H. : Neruda, Pablo et al. ~ 2 Vols. : ‘Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War’ : With ‘Writers Take Sides On The Question : Are you for, or are you against Franco and Fascism? – Letters about the War in Spain from 418 American Authors’

Vol. 1 : Left Review, London : 1937. Vol.2 : The League Of American Writers, NY : 1938

2 Vols. set : Vol.1 'Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War'. The sole UK printing published by Left Review, London in 1937. The pamphlet BOOK is in Very Good++ condition. Original printed yellow and red card covers. Internally the 32 pages are staple bound and the binding remains tight. Just the merest hint of light rusting to the staples internally. Light spotting throughout due the quality of the paper stock used, a little heavier in places. Free from inscriptions and erasures. There is some professional transparent reinforcement tape to the front and rear inner hinges where the covers have become detached from the spine, but this is barely discernable. Some light edge wear to the spine ends of the thin card printed covers which are mildly toned in places but are remarkably clean for their age. A scarce survivor of what was a cheap production. The book is protected in a removable Mylar archival cover. A very scarce pamphlet containing contributions from 148 British and Irish authors on their personal stance on the Spanish Civil War. The question posed is: 'Are you for, or against, the legal Government and the People of Republican Spain? Are you for, or against, Franco and Fascism?' and is signed off by Aragon, W. H. Auden, Jean Richard Bloch, Nancy Cunard, Brian Howard, Heinrich Mann, Ivor Montagu, Pablo Neruda, Ramon Sender, Stephen Spender, and Tristan Tzara. The publisher states its limitations within a six penny pamphlet, i.e. that it has indeed selected the responses, likely based on its own motivation (though it does say the responses herein are representative) but more so from the weight of the authors themselves. Indeed, it contains most of the powerhouse names of British and Irish literature; W. H. Auden, Samuel Beckett (who perhaps satirically simply writes “UPTHEREPUBLIC!”, Cyril Connolly, Alastair Crowley (with his name misspelt) , C. Day Lewis, Liam O’Flaherty, Ford Madox Ford, David Garnett, Victor Gollancz, Aldous Huxley, Storm Jameson, John Lehmann, Sylvia Pankhurst, Herbert Read, Stephen Spender, Olaf Stapledon, Leonard Woolf and many others. T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Vera Brittain, H. G. Wells, and Vita Sackville-West among others declare themselves neutral, the latter questioning the publication’s terminology in the question regarding a ‘legal’ government. And against the government appears Arthur Machen, Edmund Blunden, Evelyn Waugh and others. An extremely scarce pamphlet, a rare survivor in all senses, which gave audiences direct insights into ideas and worlds some authors seldom expressed themselves in and a hugely important booklet. This extremely scarce pamphlet is one of an edition of three thousand copies which sold out immediately on publication. JSIC reports 13 holdings at institutions. Vol.2 :‘Writers Take Sides On The Question : Are you for, or are you against Franco and Fascism? – Letters about the War in Spain from 418 American Authors’. The sole USA printing published by the League of American Writers, New York in 1938. The BOOK is in near Fine condition. Stapled, blue wraps with writers' names in white and titles in black. Some very light edge-wear. A sharp copy which is housed in a custom solander box with silk ties and marbled inserts. The 418 authors responses include those from : Franklin P. Adams, Sherwood Anderson, Maxwell Anderson, Gertrude Atherton, Brooks Atkinson, Earl Browder, Kenneth Burke, Countee Cullen, William Faulkner, Edna Ferber, Felix Frankfurter, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Rockwell Kent, Stanley Kunitz, Katharine Ann Porter, George Seldes, Upton Sinclair, John Steinbeck, I. F. Stone, Genevieve Taggard, Clara Weatherwax ,Richard Wright, Felix Frankfurter, James Weldon Johnson, Rockwell Kent, Stanley Kunitz, I. F. Stone, Genevieve Taggard, Clara Weatherwax, et al. A Very collectible and important two volume set.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++