WEAR

Shaw (1872-1938) was Secretary of State for War in Ramsay Macdonald's Labour administration. Twenty pages, quarto. Paginated by author. On one side each of twenty leaves of high-acidity paper, discoloured with age and fraying at extremities. Text entirely legible, but with some loss at head of each leaf and particular damage to the final one (affecting signature). A singular psychological case: the astounding rantings of a lunatic, replete with underlinings, capital letters and exclamation marks.

On one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 28 x 23 cm. On aged, creased and spotted paper. A poem, arranged in double column, consisting of fourteen seven-line stanzas intended to be sung to the tune of the British national anthem. The first stanza reads 'Misanthrops a la-mode, | Up, up, and chose the road, | To happiness. | Out of the three men choose | Two men that won't abuse, | Although they may refuse, | Some things we want.' The position of the ballad is clearly stated: 'Candlish has been our Mayor, | Hartley has graced the Chair, | Make them M.P.'s'.