[Working-Class Fiction] The Good Lion by DOHERTY, Len (1930-1983) - 1958

London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1958. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine-/Fine-. First Printing of this unusually scarce working-class novel by one of the "most important practitioners of the socialist novel in Britain." (Bounds, Orwell and Marxism) Crown 8vo (195 x 127mm): 352pp. Publisher's lime-green cloth, spine lettered in black; evocative dust jacket design by Gerard Dillon, priced 18s. An excellent example, tightly bound and clean throughout, about Fine. The Spectator (3 October 1958) described this, Doherty's third and final novel, as a "straight, self-projecting account of a Bevin boy's first couple of years as a miner: the new digs, the progression through various jobs to work at the coal-face, evenings breaking up dance halls with the gang, boxing in a local contest, arguing with Communists, looking for a girl" and praised its "hard and honest" writing and the way in which Doherty "describes action with unusual skill." Len Doherty was a British miner, journalist and writer. His first two novels were brought out by the left-wing publisher Lawrence and Wishart. Doherty was named Provincial Journalist of the Year in 1969, and in February, 1970, he was injured in a terrorist attack by the PDFLP at Munich airport while returning on an El Al flight from Israel. He took his life in 1983. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar 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.).