WOOLF, Leonard; LILLEY, Samuel
 
Essays on the Social History of Science. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen in 1953.
 
Description
 
Original cream printed paper wrappers, spine and front cover lettered in black, architectural woodcut device to front. Wrappers lightly toned at perimeter, minor superficial creasing to spine, text-block clean and structurally sound. Block edge uncut. A very good copy.
First edition, special book-length issue of Centaurus (Volume 3, Number 1–2), a remarkable association copy documenting a direct mid-century intersection between the Bloomsbury Group and the pioneers of British institutional sociology.
This copy was dispatched directly from the publisher to Leonard Woolf in his capacity as joint editor (alongside W. A. Robson) of The Political Quarterly. Preserved within the volume is the original publisher’s typed review slip from Ejnar Munksgaard, dated 26 March 1954, designating the title for review.
Accompanying the volume is a highly significant, original typed letter signed by Leonard Woolf, executed on the official stationery of The Political Quarterly, bearing the imprint of his Sussex residence, Monk’s House, Rodmell. Dated 14 April 1954 and addressed directly to the foundational British sociologist Donald Gunn MacRae at the London School of Economics, the letter reads in full:
 
"Dear McRae, I think this book may interest you. Would you do a review of about 1000 words and let me have it by May 15th? Yours sincerely, [Signed] Leonard Woolf."
 
MacRae subsequent to this invitation reviewed the work, retaining the volume, the original review slip, and Woolf’s correspondence within his permanent personal library. Samuel Lilley’s text: a foundational post-war Marxist and structuralist analysis examining the direct relationship between scientific advancement and socio-economic transformation. It represents a bridge between Woolf’s anti-authoritarian political interests and MacRae’s pioneering sociological curricula at the London School of Economics. An exceptional, multi-layered archival document of 20th-century British intellectual history.