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SOCIAL HISTORY

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BUONAVENTURA, Wendy, 1950- : DARK VENUS : MAUD ALLAN AND THE MYTH OF THE FEMME FATALE.

BUONAVENTURA, Wendy, 1950- : DARK VENUS : MAUD ALLAN AND THE MYTH OF THE FEMME FATALE.

Stroud : Amberley Publishing, (2018). First edition. “How the Dance of the Seven Veils led to ‘the libel case of the century’... A close examination of attitudes to women in the Belle Epoque and beyond”. The sensational life of the dancer Maud Allan (1873-1956).
Medium 8vo (25cm). 287,[i]pp. Plates. Portraits. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; a very good copy in a very good dust-jacket.

£20

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GRIMSHAW, Anne, 1946- : THE HORSE : A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BRITISH BOOKS 1851-1976. WITH A NARRATIVE COMMENTARY ON THE RÔLE OF THE HORSE IN BRITISH SOCIAL HISTORY, AS REVEALED BY THE CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.

GRIMSHAW, Anne, 1946- : THE HORSE : A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BRITISH BOOKS 1851-1976. WITH A NARRATIVE COMMENTARY ON THE RÔLE OF THE HORSE IN BRITISH SOCIAL HISTORY, AS REVEALED BY THE CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.

London : Library Association, (1982). First edition : limited to 1,000 copies, signed by the author. An exhaustive bibliography, with much interesting commentary.
Crown 4to (27cm). [2],xxxiv,474,[ii]pp. Illustrations. Facsimiles. Original cloth; a few faint marks and spots, but a very good copy in a lightly sunned and very slightly creased dust-jacket.

£40

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“HOARE, Philip” – [MOORE, Patrick Kevin Philip, 1958- ] : WILDE’S LAST STAND; DECADENCE, CONSPIRACY & THE FIRST WORLD WAR.

“HOARE, Philip” – [MOORE, Patrick Kevin Philip, 1958- ] : WILDE’S LAST STAND; DECADENCE, CONSPIRACY & THE FIRST WORLD WAR.

London : Gerald Duckworth & Co., (1997). First edition. The story of the sensational libel trial brought against the famous dancer Maud Allan (1873-1956) in 1918, a case which threatened to bring down the British establishment. “This is a story of judges and prejudice, of aesthetes and admirals, of MPs and dancing girls, of sex and conspiracy”.
Medium 8vo (25cm). vi,250pp. Plates. Portraits. Original red boards, lettered in gilt; a very good copy in a just lightly used dust-jacket.

£25

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JAMES, Russell : THE MAUD ALLAN AFFAIR.

JAMES, Russell : THE MAUD ALLAN AFFAIR.

Barnsley : Remember When, (2008). First edition. “Exotic dancer Maud Allan saves the London Olympics from certain failure. 90,000 people fill the previously empty stadium to see the biggest celebrity of the day ... Standing beside her was her lover, the PM’s wife Margot Asquith”. The story of the sensational libel trial brought against the famous dancer Maud Allan (1873-1956) in 1918, a case which threatened to bring down the British establishment.
Medium 8vo (25cm). 480pp. Plates. Portraits. Original black boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; a very good copy in a just faintly used dust-jacket.

£25

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MORRIS, Desmond (Desmond John), 1928- : INTIMATE BEHAVIOUR.

MORRIS, Desmond (Desmond John), 1928- : INTIMATE BEHAVIOUR.

London : Jonathan Cape, (1971). First edition. “To be intimate means to be close, and I must make it clear at the outset that I am treating this literally” — the zoologist examines the whole range of human intimacy from social to sexual, and the overwhelming and increasingly forgotten importance to the human animal of touching and physical contact — from eye contact, a handshake, or a pat on the back, to the hug, the caress, and the kiss and beyond. “The female navel, at any rate, will never be the same again” wrote Mordecai Richler in the New York Times, 5th March 1972.
Demy 8vo (23cm). (254),[ii]pp. Original fawn cloth; brown label; ruled, blocked and lettered in gilt; top edge pink; a few edge-spots, but a very good copy in the M. Mohan dust-jacket — the jacket just a touch sunned, with some very minor edge-wear, but also very good.

£50

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PALMER, Tony, 1941- : THE TRIALS OF OZ.

PALMER, Tony, 1941- : THE TRIALS OF OZ.

[London] : Blond & Briggs, (1971). First edition. “It is this case, and cases such as these, which stand at the cross-roads of our liberty ... Members of the Jury, this is a case about dissent ... we are all of us, totally entitled to disagree with their views; but this is a case about whether or not they are also entitled to disagree with us” (John Mortimer Q.C. in his opening address). Richard Neville, Felix Dennis and Jim Anderson on trial over the notorious “Schoolkids” issue of the magazine “Oz” — an account rushed out by film director Tony Palmer in August 1971 in the wake of the longest obscenity trial in British history, which had taken place over six weeks in June and July. Among the defence witnesses were George Melly, Caroline Coon, Edward de Bono, Hans Eysenck, John Peel, Marty Feldman, Ronald Dworkin, and Feliks Topolski, who provided the illustrations.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (276)pp. Illustrations by Topolski. Original pictorial wrappers; spine faded, slightly spotted, and a little rubbed and creased; mild spotting of edges and outer leaves; a good copy of a fragile production.

£40

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RICHARDS, J.M. (Sir James Maude), 1907-1992 : THE CASTLES ON THE GROUND.

RICHARDS, J.M. (Sir James Maude), 1907-1992 : THE CASTLES ON THE GROUND.

London : Architectural Press, (1946). First edition. “Ewbank’d inside and Atco’d out, the English suburban residence and the garden which is an integral part of it stand trim and lovingly cared for in the mild sunshine ... ” – Richards’ faultless homage to and defence of suburbia, written while he was serving overseas. If not regarded as a minor classic, then it should be. Illustrated with memorable two-colour lithographs by John Piper.
Demy 8vo (22cm). 86pp. Eight plates. Original brown cloth, lettered in gilt; a touch bruised; a few spots to edges and endleaves, but otherwise a very good copy in the original Piper dust-jacket – a pictorial design in pink, white, black and grey – lightly worn, slightly sunned, and a little spotted on rear panel and flaps, but complete and with just one short nick.

SOLD

SAYERS, Dorothy L. (Dorothy Leigh), 1893-1957 : THE MYSTERIOUS ENGLISH.

SAYERS, Dorothy L. (Dorothy Leigh), 1893-1957 : THE MYSTERIOUS ENGLISH.

London : Macmillan & Co., 1941. First edition. Wartime speech on the nature of Englishness – “mongrels who are proud to be mongrels and, partly because of the fact, are not a ‘volk’ but a nation”. Macmillan War Pamphlets No. 10.
Crown 8vo (19cm). (32)pp. Original stapled wrappers, a design in orange and blue; a few slight marks; some spotting; staples a touch rusted, but a good copy.

£20

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WOLFE, Tom (Thomas Kennerly), 1931-2018 : RADICAL CHIC & MAU-MAUING THE FLAK CATCHERS.

WOLFE, Tom (Thomas Kennerly), 1931-2018 : RADICAL CHIC & MAU-MAUING THE FLAK CATCHERS.

London : Michael Joseph, (1971). First British edition. Wolfe coined the term “radical chic” in an essay for “New York” magazine in June 1970. It had already struck a chord before the essay (in augmented form) appeared in book form on either side of the Atlantic — “Political extremism is all the rage in these days of radical chic — just as it was when the bored children of the middle class, reacting against their background, helped the radical leftists Mussolini and Hitler into dictatorial power”, noted the Illustrated London News on 31st October 1970. Wolfe’s second essay illuminates in similar vein the San Francisco poverty programmes — “the smell of singed snobbery, roasted radicals and charred chic ascends with blissful delight” (Alexander Walker in the Birmingham Daily Post, 23rd October 1971).
Post 8vo (21cm). [vi],(154)pp. Original black boards, lettered in gilt; a couple of spots, but a very good copy in the Graham Rogers dust-jacket, also very good.

£50

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