FASCIST

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.'

6pp., foolscap 8vo. Paginated 1-6 at the head of the page, and 867-872 in the corners. On three leaves stapled together. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

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).

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.

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.

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.