[Photobook] The Road To Wigan Pier [True First] by [Eric Arthur Blair, writing as:] ORWELL, George (1903-1950) - 1950

London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1950. First Impression. Wrappers. Fine-. Paperback Original ("Left Book Club Edition / Not For Sale To The Public"), the true first edition preceding the trade casebound issue of 2,150 copies. As many as 44,000 copies were printed, but relatively few have survived in collectible condition. Tall, thick 8vo (216 x 139mm): xxiv,264pp, with 32 full-page black-and-white photographic reproductions on coated stock of Welsh coal miners and of slums in the East End of London. Firmly bound in original orange limp cloth lettered in black. Binding lightly dust-soiled, short diagonal crease to back cover, else clean and bright throughout. Fenwick A.5a. Grolier (Orwell) 8.b. The culmination of almost two months Orwell spent, in 1936, in Lancashire and Yorkshire researching conditions of the poor and unemployed in northern England. The book is divided into two parts, the first comprising Orwell's descriptive sociological investigation, the second a long essay on the author's middle-class upbringing and the development of his political conscience, questioning British attitudes towards socialism. According to Orwell's biographer, publisher Victor Gollancz, a dedicated social reformer, tried to persuade Orwell's agent to allow the Left Book Club edition to consist solely of the descriptive first half of the book, omitting the "repugnant" second half, which Gollancz feared would be misinterpreted, and that the mostly middle-class members of the Left Book Club would be offended. When Orwell refused, Gollancz added a foreword, while Orwell was off in Spain fighting in the Civil War, in which he raised caveats about the judgments and conclusions in Part Two. The forward does not appear in the later first trade edition. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).