FASCISM

The three items in fair condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: TLS by 'Douglas Woodruff'. 1p., 4to. The letter begins testily: 'Dear Sir, | I was rather puzzled to receive your letter in the form of a carbon copy. As you may imagine, we are not fond of letters that are circulated. I have now read it in Truth, although presumably the opening paragraph refers to the Tablet.

H. G. Wells had been a member of an organisation of the same name at the end of the nineteenth century, but the two appear unrelated. The background to the present SKDS is explained in a loosely-inserted cutting from the Observer, 6 February 1938, which states that the Conservative at Kensington 'have a very vigorous Debating Society, of which the chairman is Miss Dorothy Saward. It meets once a month, and Miss Saward has been singularly successful in her choice both of motions and speakers'.

The scandal resulted in the dissolution of the company in 1932, and its merging with others to form Air France. In their 'France and Fascism: February 1934 and the Dynamics of Political Crisis' (Routledge, 2015), Jenkins and Millington explain the background as follows: 'In 1931, it was revealed that the owners of the prestigious airline Aéropostale, the Bouilloux-Lafont family, had diverted Aéropostale's government subsidies into other struggling companies they controlled. When these collapsed, Aéropostale fell with them.

PAMPHLETS: 12pp., 12mo. Stapled. In printed wraps with decorative front cover and advertisements for the movement on back cover. Both in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with rusted staple. At the foot of the title page of the 1933 impression is 'Read and Enrol | 1,000,000 12/33', and at the foot of the title page of the 1934 impression is 'Read and Enrol | 250M 4/34'. The only other difference between the two appears to be that the 1934 is of slightly smaller dimensions than the 1933 one. Uncommon: five copies of the 1933 impression are listed on COPAC, and none of the 1934 impression.

In its obituary of Prunella Stack the Guardian describes the League as 'the most innocuous of the interwar mass fitness movements': the present item would indicate otherwise. The prospectus is printed on both sides of a 25 x 31 cm. piece of shiny art paper, irregularly folded to make a 25 x 15 cm. front cover, flanked by two 25 x 7.5 cm flaps (with the front of one listing the members of the committee, and of the other the League's rules).

115pp., 8vo. In red cloth binding. No dustwrapper. Aged, with back hinge sprung and one bumped corner at the back. Excellent inscription by Spender on the front free endpaper, in which he describes the history of the composition of the play: 'To And | with love from | Stephen. | March 16 1938. | This play begun January 1933, at Barcelona, partly written in January 1937 in Madrid & Albacete, and finished January 1938 in London, is almost a record of our friendships through five years.'

16pp., 8vo. Stapled, unpaginated pamphlet with five blank versos. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Typed label laid down at head of reverse of first leaf: 'Issued by the Royal Society of St. George in W.W.W. London had been severely burned by incendiaries, the Guildhall and eight Wren churches destroyed. | Original contribution by Winston Churchill.' Circular reproduction of black and white engraving, somewhat in the style of a seventeenth-century emblem book, showing the trumpeter riding a carved lion on a globe overlooking a landscape.

12pp., 4to. On the rectos of 12 leaves, stitched with red thread into yellow wrappers with crude design of airplanes in action. From the papers of the Labour MP Tom Driberg, and with 'Mr Driberg' in pencil at head of front wrap. In a preface dated 21 August 1941 Knight refers to 'twelve fateful and ferocious months', and criticises 'a deplorable lack of vision and imagination everywhere.

2pp., 4to. 41 lines. In fair condition, on aged paper. He begins by stating that 'Yellow Sands' 'only touches social questions by the accident of the plot. Socialism is a word the definition of which no two people appear to agree about. Ask a dozen Socialists what they understand by their faith & they will each tell you something different.' The opinions depicted in the play are both 'clear' and 'foggy', 'but it is [in] no sense propagandist - I hate propaganda in art.' He goes on to discuss his own views: 'I am not a socialist.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly-aged and creased. Beneath the cover on the front page are four quotations: 'I don't know what astonishes me most about you British - your kindness and your courage, or your blindness.'; 'Not one in ten of you knows what a German victory would mean to you.'; 'Wake up.

Ten items, in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: Typescript titled 'THE CASTLE | A play in three acts (nine scenes) based on Franz Kafka's novel THE CASTLE | by MAX BROD | translated by James Clark | All rights reserved | 1963'. [viii] + 98 + [i] pp., 8vo. With two-hole metal punchbinding; in original blue wraps. Prepared by 'Scripts Limited' of Wardour St. With a few minor emendations in pencil. TWO: Two copies (typescript and carbon) of a paper entitled 'On Dramatizing Kafka's "The Castle" | by Max Brod' (3pp., folio).

On a 12mo bifolium of laid paper with 'DUNEDIN NOTE' watermark. Good, on lightly-aged paper. On the cover are a large black swastika and the words 'An Old-Time Greeting.' The poem, titled 'The Rune of the Swastika.' and signed in type 'J. S. M.', is on the recto of the second leaf.

Both letters good, on lightly-aged paper. The second letter in envelope addressed by Mosley to 'Peter Reid Esq | 68 New Cavendish Street | London W1 M 7 LD [sic] | Angleterre'. Letter One (2pp., 12mo): She begins: 'My husband asked me to answer your letter. I think we have got photographs of Rolleston, but all such things are stored in Ireland, where we used to have a house. When I go through them (which one day I must) I will send you what I find.

The spelling (e.g. 'honor') is American, the latest date mentioned is in 1942, and there is no indication that the document has ever been published. 58 pages, on one side each of fifty-eight A4 leaves (each roughly 26 x 20 cm), paginated 26 to 83. Punch holes for a binder at the head of each leaf.

Stapled pamphlet. 8vo, 27 pp, including full-page photograph of Mussolini embracing a man in Nazi uniform (Himmler?). Fair: internally clean and tight; some marking and wear to covers. Inscribed on title-page to 'Eric Underwood Esq with the sincere regards of Perry Belmont'. (Underwood is perhaps the English-born Australian nutritionist, 1905-1980.) Curious, digressive, energetic attack on fascism, with sections on the Teutonic Order, 'Oath-bound organisations' (Freemasonry) and 'Gangsters'.

One page, folio. Very good on lightly creased paper. Headed 'FIGHTING FUND' and listing the members of the 'PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE' (including Lampson as Honorary Secretary, and the Duke of Westminster and Earl of Malmesbury). Communication of twenty-seven lines, with decided proto-fascistic overtones.

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. 59 lines of text. Clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper, with 4.5 cm closed tears to the outer edge of central horizontal fold to both leaves. A large part of the letter would appear to concern washing machines, including a reference to a new one on the American market, called the 'Waterflex'. A few lines in English at end: 'Many thanks for your Birthday-carte. Sorry year it arrived 1 month to [sic] late.' Sends love to 'Dorothy', and reference in text to 'Kajitan': 'Das wird Dir bestimmt Freude machen. Das ist alles viel besser als die Politik.

8vo, [ii] + 7 + [i] pp. Five leaves. Stapled and unbound. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with the two staples slightly rusted. The title of the Bill continues '[...] on the occasion of public processions and meetings in public places.' It was 'Presented by Secretary Sir John Simon, supported by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, Mr. Secretary Elliot, Sir Kinglsey Wood, Mr. Attorney-General, and Mr.

Two pages, folio. Good, but on discoloured and lightly creased paper, with remains of stub adhering to one edge of verso. In English, with illegible signature. Begins 'The State Office of Statistics appreciating fully the great importance of an exact information of the British publicity of the conditions in the Czechoslovakia has the honour to send you simultaneously her following publications.' Five items listed.

British politician (1847-1923), member of House of Commons (1886-1892; 1893-1900), member of House of Lords after becoming Lord Weardale in 1905; president of two Interparliamentary Conferences (1890; 1906). These two items constitute a long and extremely interesting critique of Jacobs' 'Neutrality versus justice: an essay on international relations' (1917). LETTER ONE: nine pages, 12mo. Very good, on three bifoliate letterheads.

Chairman and Managing Director of Lyons & Co. Ltd (1876-1941). One page, quarto. Very good. Docketed in pencil. Reads: 'Many thanks for sending me a copy of your book, World Peace and Armaments. I shall look forward with great interest to reading it.' Signed 'Isidore Salmon'.

British school inspector (1856-1936) and member of bodies dealing with child welfare and the after-care of children. Both one page, octavo, and both folded twice. LETTER ONE: creased and discoloured, with closed tear along one fold (not affecting text). He has 'carefully read with much interest' Jacobs' 'World peace and armaments', '& I congratulate your [sic] heartily upon the presentation of your views. | Before attempting to further your case, I should like to have a talk with you.' Suggests meeting at the Constitutional Club.

In printed wraps, vi + 99 pages. With ownership inscription of 'Sir E. Beckett' on front wrap. Wraps are worn and creased, with some loss not affecting text. Staple-bound with minor rust to staples. Text in good condition.

16 pages, 8vo, unbound. Illustrated map taking up most of title-page. The British Library has an item published by Casavis on the Dodecanese in 1941 but does not appear to have a copy of this earlier pamphlet. In need of professional restoration: in bad condition, printed on poor-quality paper, discoloured, torn and flaking. The text complete and entirely legible, but with the first and last leaves in particularly poor condition.