COLE, G. D. H.; POSTGATE, Raymond; MACRAE, Donald Gunn
The Common People, 1746–1938. Published by Methuen & Co. Ltd., London in 1938.
Description
Original light green cloth, spine lettered in red. Light softening to spine ends, corners minimally rubbed, text block tight. Toning to block edges. End papers clean though with toning. A very good copy. Octavo.
First edition, first printing, a unique association copy of a foundational work of British labour history, containing an original, critical handwritten signed letter by the author G. D. H. Cole.
Preserved within the volume is a double-sided note in black ink by the legendary Fabian socialist historian, economist, and theoretician, G. D. H. Cole.
Sent from his London residence at 74 Hillway, Highgate, N.6, and addressed directly to the pioneering British sociologist Donald Gunn MacRae at the London School of Economics.
The correspondence captures a high level institutional dispute over the commercial distribution and cultural pricing of socialist literature.
MacRae had argued that Cole's The Common People required low cost distribution via Allen Lane’s mass market Pelican or Penguin imprints at two shillings and sixpence (2/6) to remain accessible to the British proletariat. Cole’s handwritten rebuttal fiercely challenges the commercial viability of mass market publishing, while delivering a sharp critique of contemporary working class consumer choices and intellectual complacency:
"Yes, of course the book would sell a lot more at 2/6 (top Pelican price). But: a) There is only one Allen Lane & a queue of books for him. b) I think the minimum sale for Penguin is 50-75,000 & if they don't envisage that they won't publish. c) The lower-income brackets are mean about book-buying, & I think they should be told so. This point was really the gravamen of my letter - a protest against people like yourself accepting calmly the view that if a book costs more than a packet of fags no 'working-man' should be expected to buy it. yours, [Signed] G. D. H. Cole"
A superb association copy linking two generations of pioneering British social thought.