Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana

Orwell, George The Road to Wigan Pier. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1937 8vo (220 x 140 mm). 32 photographic plates. Publisher's blue cloth, spine gilt lettered, in original yellow printed dustjacket; dustjacket with some stains, spine panel uniformly sunned, rubbing and a few short closed tears at extremities. Housed in a black quarter morocco clamshell box. [With]: Publisher's slip (257 x 202 mm), printed on verso, date 1 March 1937 and signed by the publicity manager; old horizontal and vertical folds. Housed in a black quarter morocco clamshell box. First edition, first impression, in the original dustjacket, of Orwell's famous account of Northern working class life and coalmining. The publisher was initially unhappy with the second half of the book, where Orwell announced both his adherence to socialism as well as his dislike of socialist intellectuals and their admiration for Soviet power. This first regular edition, published on 8 March 1937, was preceded by Gollancz's Left Book Club edition a few weeks before, issued in limp orange cloth. Orwell never expected that The Road to Wigan Pier would be selected by Gollancz for his prestigious Left Book Club list, which had been launched in May 1936. Gollancz had commissioned the book a £500 advance in January, and Orwell spent the next two months in the north of England. His friends received numerous letters describing his experience, with Orwell writing to Richard Rees in February "Have you ever been down a mine? I don't think I shall ever feel the quite the same about coal again." The present copy was sent by the publisher to a prospective reviewer, and includes the publisher's letter. REFERENCE Fenwick A.5b

View 1 of Lot 105: Orwell, George | A review copy of The Road to Wigan Pier, in the original dust-jacket

orwell, george | a review copy of the road to wigan pier, in the original dust-jacket

Books and Manuscripts, Medieval to Modern

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) Autograph letter signed ("E. Blair"), to Amy Byrne detailing his usual weekly movements between his home and the offices of Tribune, in order to make lunch arrangements to meet her and her husband, also promising her a book ("...I'll try & find a copy of 'Burmese Days for you. These Penguins are sold out as soon as published nowadays, but I believe I have a few copies somewhere..."), 1 page, 4to, 10a Mortimer Crescent, London NW6, 23 June 1944, small nicks at edges, rust mark from paperclip, nicks Amy Charlesworth, with whom Orwell had corresponded in 1937 (see lots 270-271), had now married her second husband Gerry Byrne. In a sure sign of Orwell's burgeoning popularity, Penguin books had recently published a reprint of Orwell's 1934 novel Burmese Days. The reprint, in an edition of 60,000 copies, was published on 11 May 1944. LITERATURE The Complete Works of George Orwell: Volume 16 (1998), p.265

View 1 of Lot 272: George Orwell | Autograph letter signed, to Amy Byrne, arranging a meeting, 23 June 1944

george orwell | autograph letter signed, to amy byrne, arranging a meeting, 23 june 1944

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) Typed letter signed ("Geo. Orwell"), to Gerry Byrne announcing that "my wife died three months ago, very suddenly and unexpectedly", writing about the aftermath of her death including his relief that their son Richard was too young to to miss her ("...He is now 13 1/2 months old and is extremely well. He has twelve teeth and is almost able to walk..."), apologising that he cannot come to speak at a Labour Party campaign meeting ("...I am up to the eyes in the election myself, apart from other work. I don't even know of anyone suitable..."), 1 page, 4to, 27b Canonbury Square, Islington, London, 28 June 1945, minor nicks and creases "...She was to have an operation which should not have been very serious in itself and was expected to cure the trouble she suffered from, but she appears to have died as soon as the operation began, as a result of the anaesthetic..." Although Orwell here relates the immediate cause of Eileen's death under anaesthetic for a hysterectomy, "the trouble she suffered from" was advanced cancer. Orwell was in France when she died, on 29 March 1945, reporting on the final stages of the war in Europe, and he here explains to Byrne that he returned as soon as he could after the funeral, escaping his grief through work ("...I felt better when I was moving about...") and leaving his son Richard "with an aunt in Greenwich". He was back in England covering the Election, which was just a week away, and explains to Byrne that he had just taken on a housekeeper - Susan Watson - which would make it practical for his son to rejoin him in Islington. Orwell's correspondent here is Gerry Byrne, the husband of Amy Charlesworth, with whom he had corresponded since 1937 (see lots 270-273). LITERATURE: The Complete Works of George Orwell: Volume 17 (1998) pp.198-99

View 1 of Lot 274: George Orwell | Typed letter signed, to Gerry Byrne, on the death of his wife, 28 June 1945

george orwell | typed letter signed, to gerry byrne, on the death of his wife, 28 june 1945

Scarfe at Sotheby’s: Sixty Years of Being Rude

GERALD SCARFE "All Animals are Created Equal" 680 by 430mm., pen, ink and watercolour drawing with corrections in gouache, signed lower left, mounted, framed and glazed (1045 by 795mm.) Published in Heroes & Villains (2003), p. 103. Exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, "Heroes & Villains", 30 September 2003 - 4 April 2004. Please click here to view shipping calculator

scarfe | [heroes & villains] | "all animals are created equal" [george orwell]

English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations

ORWELL, GEORGE Kolgosp Tvarin [Animal Farm]. Munich: Vidavnitstvi Prometei, [1947] 8vo, first Ukrainian edition of "Animal Farm", special 6-page forward for this edition by the author, original pictorial wrappers, slightly browned and sunned One of the earliest international translations of Animal Farm, most copies of which are thought to have been destroyed when they fell into the hands of the Ukrainian authorities. The special preface by Orwell is an account of his early life, his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, his views on Stalinism and the Soviet regime, and his belief in the Socialist movement. It concludes with a very valuable explanation of the genesis of Animal Farm: "On my return from Spain I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could easily be understood by almost anyone and which could be easily translated into other languages...One day...I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge cart-horse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat..." (translation provided Fenwick, p.97) LITERATURE: Fenwick A.10.T25 Please see shipping calculator link: click here.

orwell, kolgosp tvarin [animal farm], 1947, first ukrainian edition

From the Library of Christian Heuer ORWELL, GEORGE Nineteen Eighty-Four. Secker and Warburg, 1949 8vo, FIRST EDITION, half-title, original green cloth lettered in red, top edge red, green dust-jacket by Michael Kennard, some browning, dust-jacket flaps and endpapers with adhesive residue and staining as a result, dust-jacket with some chipping at extremities "I do not believe that the kind of society I described necessarily will arrive, but I believe (allowing of course for the fact that the book is a satire) that something resembling it could arrive" (Orwell, 1949) FIRST EDITION OF ARGUABLY THE GREATEST DYSTOPIAN NOVEL OF MODERN TIMES. "Nineteen Eight-Four depicts, with very great power, the horrors of a well-established totalitarian regime of whatever type. It is important that the western world should be aware of these dangers..." (Bertrand Russell, front flap of dust-jacket) LITERATURE: Fenwick A12a Please see shipping calculator link: click here.

orwell, nineteen eighty-four, 1949

Fine Books and Manuscripts

Orwell, George Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. London: Secker & Warburg, 1945 Small 8vo. Half-title; leaves a little toned. Dust jacket; a little creased at edges with some small tears, marginal chip to rear cover, spine toned with one small chip, rear cover a little soiled. Collector's green cloth clamshell box. Second edition of this powerful fable satirizing the dangers of communism. An exceedingly scare presentation copy inscribed to Orwell's freedom fighter in arms, John "Paddy" Donovan, "in safe keeping of Don McGregor — Paddy Donovan." Orwell's idea for an analogy of society using animals arose from witnessing a carthorse be cruelly beaten by a boy. He decided to produce a satirical novella that decried contemporary politics whilst maintaining a witty and compelling narrative. His non-fiction account of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, hadn't achieved the societal impact he had wished for. This beast fable sought to convey Orwell's political views in a way accessible to all. It was when Orwell was fighting against Franco in Spain in 1937 that the author met the dedicatee, Paddy Donovan. A contemporary newspaper records the two men fighting alongside one another— "'Charge!' shouted Blair (Orwell). 'Over to the right and in!' called Paddy Donovan. 'Are we downhearted?' cried the French Captain Benjamin. In front of the parapet was Eric Blair's tall figure coolly strolling forward through the storm of the fire...". Donovan and Orwell remained friends and allies for their political cause; Orwell employed Donovan in December 1937. Written between November 1943 and February 1944, Orwell was unable to find a publisher for Animal Farm until after the war had ended given it's staunch anti-communist message. A German V-1 bomb exploded upon his London home as he was searching for a publisher, almost destroying his creation. It was found amongst the rubble. Upon publication by Secker and Warburg, it was a resounding commercial triumph, selling 250,000 copies in one year. This second edition was hastily published in the same month as the first due to the novel's success. PROVENANCE: John "Paddy" Donovan (presentation inscription from the author)

View 1 of Lot 1082: Orwell, George | “Four legs good, two legs bad.” An exceedingly rare presentation copy

orwell, george | “four legs good, two legs bad.” an exceedingly rare presentation copy

Orwell, George Down and Out in London and Paris. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1933 8vo (212 x 136 mm). Half-title. Publisher's purple cloth, spine lettered in black with alternating purple stripes, in the original green pictorial dustjacket, green pictorial endpapers matching the jacket; light soiling to top edge, dustjacket slightly browned at head, some small chips at extremities. In a quarter black morocco slipcase with folding chemise. First American edition of Orwell's first published book—the famous, semi-autobiographical account of poverty and life on the margins in two of Europe's most prosperous cities. The book sold poorly in the United States, perhaps due to the Depression. Copies in the dustjacket are scarce.

View 1 of Lot 156: Orwell, George | First American edition of Orwell's first book

orwell, george | first american edition of orwell's first book

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2

Orwell, George Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949 8vo (184 x 124 mm). Fly-leaf, half-title with advertisement of seven other works by Orwell on the verso, title-page, some leaves at end unopened; loss to lower corners of pp. 17-20 and pp. 49-52 not affecting text, closed tear at foot pp. 65/66 affecting text, open marginal tears to p. 298 from where leaves were clumsily opened. Original plain light blue wrappers; crease to front wrapper, edges lightly browned. Housed in a quarter black morocco slipcase with folding chemise. An uncorrected proof of arguably the greatest dystopian novel of modern times. The novel has come to define contemporary discourse around surveillance, and is responsible for the rise of the term "Orwellian." It is now almost incessantly referenced in any debate about the use of technology and algorithms by the surveillance state or trans-global corporations to track, control, or influence citizens across the world. Proof copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four are rare, with only two other copies appearing at auction in the last 30 years. Notably, the title of the book is spelled out on the half-title, whereas it is printed in numerals on the title-page. Harcourt Brace, Orwell's American publisher, were eager to print the book and reluctant to wait for corrected proofs from Secker & Warburg. Orwell complained, "This will mean 2 sets of proofs to correct. ... As there are a lot of neologisms there are bound to be many printers' errors of a stupid kind, & American compositors are very tiresome to deal with as they always think they know better than the author. ... It is most important that there shouldn't be any misprints in a book of this kind" (Fenwick, p.129). REFERENCE: cf. Fenwick A.12a

View 1 of Lot 1101: Orwell, George | A rare uncorrected proof

orwell, george | a rare uncorrected proof

Scotch Whisky: The Hollywood Collection + The Three Continents Collection Part 4

Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984

Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 Distilled in 23rd April 1984, bottled in October 2014, ullage: very top shoulder, metal disc on top of capsule detached Image shown is for reference only. For bottle condition please refer to cataloguing notes above 1 bt 70cl (opc) ﻿Please note that all spirits are sold for collection in New York or shipment to the District of Columbia, New Hampshire and New York via specialized carriers. For delivery outside of the United States, please see Important Information for Purchases at Wine and Spirit Sales in the Conditions of Business.

View 1 of Lot 5912: Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

jura the famous george orwell 30 year old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 bt70)

Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 Distilled in 23rd April 1984, bottled in October 2014, ullage: very top shoulder Image shown is for reference only. For bottle condition please refer to cataloguing notes above 1 bt 70cl (opc) ﻿Please note that all spirits are sold for collection in New York or shipment to the District of Columbia, New Hampshire and New York via specialized carriers. For delivery outside of the United States, please see Important Information for Purchases at Wine and Spirit Sales in the Conditions of Business.

View 1 of Lot 5909: Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

View 1 of Lot 5908: Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

Books and Manuscripts: 19th and 20th Century

George Orwell A Clergyman's Daughter. London: Victor Gollancz, 1935 FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED TO MABEL FIERZ on the front free endpaper ("Mrs & Mrs Fierz from Eric Blair"), 8vo, original black cloth, hinges splitting, spotting, wear at head of spine, later ownership inscription on half-title AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE PRESENTATION COPY OF ORWELL'S SECOND NOVEL. We have no record of any other inscribed copy of this novel having been offered for sale on the open market. This copy is inscribed to Mabel Fierz and her husband Francis (See lot 113). Orwell had an affair with Mabel Fierz in the early 1930s which, as she recalled in a 1979 interview, her husband either "pretended not to see or didn't see." By 1935, however, the relationship had settled into a friendship with both husband and wife. A Clergyman's Daughter draws extensively on the author's personal experiences, in which Mabel Fierz was closely entwined. In 1932 she had got him a job teaching in a small private school in Hayes on the edge of West London, and Orwell used that experience when describing Mrs Creevey's academy in Chapter 4. Although former students were later to recall Orwell with fondness, he described leafy, middle-class Hayes as "One of the most God-forsaken places I have ever struck" and came to despise the way that profit corroded the educational ethos at fee-paying schools: "It's the fees I'm after," says the proprietress of his fictional school, "not developing the children's minds". A Clergyman's Daughter is Orwell's most formally experimental work. The scene in Trafalgar Square, written in dramatic form, owes much to the 'Circe' episode of Ulysses - a book which Mabel Fierz had obtained for him by smuggling a copy from Antwerp (although she later recalled with some annoyance that Orwell had promptly tried to sell it). The book was published in an edition of 2,000 copies on 20 March 1936. It was respectfully reviewed but Orwell, always critical of his own writing, professed himself deeply unhappy with A Clergyman's Daughter, which is perhaps why inscribed copies are so rare. He refused to allow its republication by Penguin in the 1940s. LITERATURE: Fenwick A.3.a PROVENANCE: Mabel and Francis Fierz; thence by descent

View 1 of Lot 114: George Orwell | A Clergyman's Daughter, 1935, first edition, inscribed to Mabel and Francis Fierz

george orwell | a clergyman's daughter, 1935, first edition, inscribed to mabel and francis fierz

View 1 of Lot 5910: Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

View 1 of Lot 5911: Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

English Literature, History, Science, Children’s Books and Illustrations Online

ORWELL, GEORGE Nineteen-Eighty-Four. Secker & Warburg, 1949 8vo, first edition, original green calico-textured cloth on boards, spine lettered in red, red dust-jacket, preserved in card chemise, very slight spotting to a few leaves and cloth, jacket slightly faded on spine, jacket slightly creased and slightly nicked at extremities FIRST EDITION OF ARGUABLY THE GREATEST DYSTOPIAN NOVEL OF MODERN TIMES, now almost incessantly referenced in any debate about the use of technology and algorithms by the surveillance state or trans-global corporations to track, control, or influence citizens across the world. LITERATURE: Fenwick A.12a; Connolly 99 Please see Shipping Calculator Link: Click Here

Orwell, George Down and Out in London and Paris. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1933 8vo (212 x 136 mm). Half-title, title with publisher's device. Publisher's purple cloth, spine lettered in black with alternating purple stripes, in green pictorial dustjacket, green pictorial endpapers matching the jacket; light soiling to top edge, dustjacket slightly browned at head, some small chips at extremities. In a quarter black morocco slipcase with folding chemise. First American edition of Orwell's first published book—the famous, semi-autobiographical account of poverty and life on the margins in two of Europe's most prosperous cities. The book sold poorly in the United States, perhaps due to the Depression. Copies in the dustjacket are scarce.

View 1 of Lot 104: Orwell, George | First American edition of Orwell's first book

Whisky & Whiskey | The Three Continents Collection

Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 Distilled in 23rd April 1984, bottled in October 2014, ullage: very top shoulder, metal disc on top of capsule detached 1 bt 70cl (opc) Please note that all spirits are sold for collection in New York or shipment to the District of Columbia, New Hampshire and New York via specialized carriers. For delivery outside of the United States, please see Important Information for Purchases at Wine and Spirit Sales in the Conditions of Business.

View 1 of Lot 5312: Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) Typed letter signed ("Geo. Orwell"), to Mrs Amy Byrne excusing his delayed reply ("...I have been away again, and also somewhat distraught with the move into here..."), writing with relief that he has brought his young son down from Newcastle ("..It is no joke travelling with a child now..."), with other personal news and hoping that they will be able to visit the Byrnes at their home in Liverpool, 1 page, 4to, 27b Canonbury Square, Islington, London, 23 October 1944, light staining and creasing "...I'd like to show you the baby (his name is Richard) and get your opinion of him. I'm no judge but I think he is a very nice child and quite forward for his age..." GEORGE ORWELL ON HIS INFANT SON. The Orwells had adopted Richard through the contacts of Eileen Orwell's sister, a doctor in Newcastle. Richard was Orwell's only child. Orwell wrote this letter soon after he had brought his son down from Newcastle to their new home in Islington, their previous house having been destroyed by a German bomb the previous June. Orwell was by now an established writer, especially through his work for Tribune. He had written Animal Farm but was having difficulty finding a publisher for an anti-Soviet satire at a time when the USSR was still Britain's ally. Amy Charlesworth (see lots 270-272) was now married to her second husband, Gerry Byrne (see next lot), and living in Liverpool. LITERATURE The Complete Works of George Orwell: Volume 16 (1998), p.445

View 1 of Lot 273: George Orwell | Typed letter signed, to Mrs Amy Byrne, on his infant son, 23 October 1944

george orwell | typed letter signed, to mrs amy byrne, on his infant son, 23 october 1944

Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern

George Orwell Animal Farm. London: Secker & Warburg, 1945 FIRST EDITION, 8vo (185 x 124mm.), original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, dust-jacket, front free endpaper pasted down, rear free endpaper slightly creased, binding slightly sunned at extremities, a few small chips and minor closed tears at extremities of dust-jacket, but a fine copy FIRST EDITION IN A BRIGHT JACKET OF THE AUTHOR'S CLASSIC DYSTOPIAN FABLE, often called the greatest satire in English since Gulliver's Travels. Orwell had finished writing Animal Farm early in 1944 but at least four leading British publishers had turned it down as inopportune while Russia was an ally, so it was not published until 17 August 1945, when the war in Europe had ended. "It brought Orwell instant fame and a huge new and international readership. Harcourt Brace took it after many New York firms had rejected it, and it was a Book of the Month Club selection: it sold 250,000 copies in one year. It was translated into every major language, including some in which it could only be read in smuggled or in samizdat versions. It has survived the late twentieth-century collapse of Soviet power not only because of its plain style—Orwell believed passionately and politically that no meaningful idea was too difficult to be explained in simple terms to ordinary people—but because the satire can touch all power-hungry regimes, left or right, and even some rulers who can be hard to pin down in either category." (Bernard Crick, ODNB)

View 1 of Lot 283: George Orwell | Animal Farm, London, 1945, first edition, dust-jacket

george orwell | animal farm, london, 1945, first edition, dust-jacket

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) Typed letter signed ("Eric Blair"), to Amy Charlesworth responding to her further questions about the Spanish Civil War ("...Where the POUM, and you might say the Anarchists, different from the Government and the Communist Party, was in saying that Franco must be resisted not in the name of democracy as it exists in England, France etc., but in the name of workers' government..."), discussing the nature of Fascism, the likelihood of a Nationalist victory in Spain, and concluding with his fear of a coming European war ("...the next thing we know we shall find ourselves fighting another imperialist war (against Germany) which will be dressed up as a war 'against Fascism' and then another ten million men will be dead before people grasp that Fascism and so-called democracy are Tweedledum and Tweedledee..."), with brief autograph postscript at the head, 2 pages, 4to, The Stores, Wallington, Nr Baldock, Herts, 30 August 1937, weak at folds, nicks at edges, rust mark from paperclip [with:] photocopy of letter by Charlesworth to Orwell, 6 October 1937, with stamp of the George Orwell Archive, UCL "...It is quite true that we ought all to combine against Fascism, but then one has got to decide that Fascism is. If Fascism means suppression of political liberty and free speech, imprisonment without trial etc., then the present regime in Spain is Fascism..." This is a second letter by Orwell to Charlesworth, explaining further how his experience of Stalinism in Spain had changed his political thinking (see previous lot). He here also expounds his deep pessimism about capitalist democracy, and his fear that the coming European war would prove to be a war of imperial gain dressed as a war against Fascism. Charlesworth's reply to Orwell shows that she continued to be an eager student who took his political insights with a deep seriousness. She also reveals, unprompted, much more detail about her personal situation, hoping Orwell would not be "revolted by my frankness". She was 33 with two children and separated from her husband: they had married when she was sixteen and proved to be "absolutely & completely incompatible". She was currently in Manchester training to be a health worker, deeply conscious that early motherhood and unhappy marriage had left her with few educational opportunities, and evidently with a fervent wish to understand better the political causes of the poverty and misery that she saw around her in 1930's Britain. LITERATURE The Complete Works of George Orwell: Volume 11 (1998), pp.76-77

View 1 of Lot 271: George Orwell | Typed letter signed, to Miss Amy Charlesworth, on Fascism and the Spanish Civil War, 30 August 1937

george orwell | typed letter signed, to miss amy charlesworth, on fascism and the spanish civil war, 30 august 1937

Distilled | Including The Dalmore 38 Year Old & 39 Year Old Private Casks sold in aid of SAMH

Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70)

Jura The Famous George Orwell 30 Year Old 44.0 abv 1984 (1 BT70) Distilled in 1984 and bottled in 2014, opc The Hong Kong Tax has been fully paid on these lots, however, the buyer has sole responsibility for any transport costs and any duty or taxes when shipping the lot outside of Hong Kong. 本拍品在入口香港時已付清相關稅項，但買家須自行支付所有運輸費用、及運送拍品到香港以外地區所產生的關稅或稅項。 Under the law of Hong Kong, intoxicating liquor must not be sold or supplied to a minor in the course of business. 根據香港法律，不得在業務過程中，向未成年人售賣或供應令人醺醉的酒類。

George Orwell Down and Out in Paris and London. London: Victor Gollancz, 1933 FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED TO MABEL FIERZ on the front free endpapers ("To Mrs Fierz, with best wishes & many thanks for her great help in getting this book published. Eric A. Blair"), 8vo, half-title, with a pencil note on p.275, presumably in the hand of Fierz, disputing his claim that "unemployment affects women less than men", original black cloth, spotting, wear to spine edges and corners ORWELL'S FIRST BOOK, INSCRIBED TO THE LOVER WHO WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN GETTING THE BOOK INTO PRINT. Mabel Sinclair Fierz met Eric Blair in 1930 on holiday in Southwold. Born in Brazil to an expatriate industrialist family, she was the wife of Francis Fierz, an executive in a steel manufacturing firm with keen literary interests, who wrote occasional reviews for the Adelphi. Eric Blair was an aspiring writer who was back living with his parents at their Suffolk home, having resigned from his post in the Imperial Police in Burma, endeavoured to understand poverty by living as a tramp in England, and spending time as a penniless bohemian writer in Paris. Meeting Mabel Fierz was to prove transformative for the young writer. With the support of her husband, she became his key supporter and patron. She invited to stay at her home in North London when he was visiting London, helped him to find a teaching job in 1932, smuggled him a copy of Ulysses from Antwerp, and got him his flat in Parliament Hill in 1935. The two also had an affair that lasted about a year. Above all, however, Mabel Fierz played a crucial role in ensuring that Down and Out found a publisher. Blair abandoned the manuscript at Fierz's house after it had been rejected by both Jonathan Cape and Faber & Faber, telling her to throw it away but keep the paperclips, or do with it what she liked. Fierz took the manuscript to the literary agent Leonard Moore and, by sheer force of her considerable will, persuaded him to take it on. Blair wrote to Moore on 26 April 1932, apparently in some surprise: "I left the ms you have with Mrs Sinclair Fierz and asked her to throw it away, but I suppose she sent it to you instead." Blair agreed that Moore could act as his agent, and simply asked that if he found a publisher then the book be published pseudonymously. Moore saw that the manuscript was likely to fit the ambitious and radical list of Victor Gollancz. Down and Out in Paris and London, with the author's newly minted name of "George Orwell", was published by Gollancz on 9 January 1933. INSCRIBED COPIES OF ORWELL'S FIRST BOOK ARE EXCEPTIONALLY RARE ON THE OPEN MARKET. Only two inscribed copies to have sold at auction in recent decades: the copy belonging to his agent Leonard Moore, and a copy presented to another Southwold friend, Herbert Dennis Collings. See also lot 114. LITERATURE: Fenwick A.1.a PROVENANCE: Mabel Fierz; thence by descent

View 1 of Lot 113: George Orwell | Down and Out in Paris and London, 1933, inscribed to Mabel Fierz

george orwell | down and out in paris and london, 1933, inscribed to mabel fierz

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) Typed letter signed ("Eric Blair ("George Orwell")"), to Amy Charlesworth writing after his return from Spain ("...the wound I got in Spain was a bullet through the neck, but it is all healed up and well except that I have lost part of my voice...") and providing a detailed and nuanced analysis of the opposing sides in the Civil War, the contradictions amongst the Nationalists ("...They stand on the one hand for an earlier form of society, feudalism, the Roman Catholic Church and so forth, and on the other hand for Fascism, which means an immensely regimented and centralised form of government, which certain features in common with Socialism, in that it means suppression of a good deal of private property and private enterprise, but always ultimately in the interest of the bigger capitalists, and therefore completely unsocialistic..."), and the "terrible things" happening on the Government side ("...The Communist Party, which we are accustomed to regard as revolutionary [...] is conducting the reign of terror..."), with an autograph postscript explaining that George Orwell is a pen-name and expressing a desire to meet, 4 pages, 4to, The Stores, Wallington, Nr Baldock, Herts, 1 August 1937, light spotting and dust-staining, nicks at folds [with:] Photocopy of a letter by Charlesworth to Orwell, discussing The Road to Wigan Pier, 26 May 1937, with George Orwell Archive UCL stamp This correspondence began when Amy Charlesworth (1904-45) wrote admiringly to Orwell from her home in Stockport after having read The Road to Wigan Pier. She placed herself carefully in class terms ("I am of the working-class but I have been brought into fairly close contact for nine years with the middle-class") and explained she was a student midwife, who had learnt that "there is so much that needs saying about the poor man's wife, and in particular the hardships she undergoes when children come to quickly". She wrote earnestly of the importance of birth control in releasing families from poverty, and hoped that Orwell would write something on the subject. Orwell's reply to this first letter is not known to survive, but he evidently explained that he was recently returned from Spain, leading Charlesworth to ask about the situation in that war-torn country. Orwell had travelled to Spain to join the Republican left-wing POUM militia after he had finished The Road to Wigan Pier in December 1936. He was involved in the fighting during the Barcelona "May Days" of the Communist purge of of the anti-Stalinist left, was shot in the neck on the Aragon front, and narrowly escaped Spain when the Stalinists outlawed POUM. These experiences, which were the subject of Homage to Catalonia, turned Orwell into a fierce and clear-sighted anti-Communist. This letter provides a succinct summary of the complex and tragic events in Spain as Orwell saw them. He had returned to England to find little sympathy for his views, as few on the left were willing to accept his argument that Stalinist Communism was nearly identical to Fascism. He was living quietly in rural Hertfordshire working on Homage to Catalonia, although he knew he would be unable to publish it with Victor Gollancz. The book was published the following year by Secker and Warburg. LITERATURE The Complete Works of George Orwell: Volume 11 (1998), pp.61-62

View 1 of Lot 270: George Orwell | Typed letter signed, to Amy Charlesworth, with his views on the Spanish Civil War, 1 August 1937

george orwell | typed letter signed, to amy charlesworth, with his views on the spanish civil war, 1 august 1937

Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949

orwell, george.

Two typed letters signed (“Geo. Orwell”), together 2 pages (10 x8 in.; 255 x 203 mm), London, 11 August and 30 October 1945, to Eric Warman, literary editor at  Paul Elek (Publishers) Ltd.; single-spaced, one on thin paper with slightly torn left edge.

orwell, george

Nineteen Eighty-Four. A Novel. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949

Animal Farm. A Fairy Story. London: Secker & Warburg, 1945

The Library of an English Bibliophile Part VII

8vo (185 x 124mm.), FIRST EDITION, original green cloth, spine lettered in white, dust-jacket, minor wear and tiny loss at corners of jacket

animal farm. london: secker & warburg, 1945

8vo (218 x 141mm.), FIRST EDITION, one of 1500 copies, original green cloth lettered in gilt, top edge green, original pictorial DUST-JACKET (unclipped, with price 10s. 6d.), offsetting to endpapers, minor nicks to edges of jacket, small hole on lower panel of jacket, slightly sunned on spine

homage to catalonia. london: secker and warburg, 1938

8vo (184 x 124mm.), FIRST EDITION, original green cloth lettered in red, top edge red, red dust-jacket by Michael Kennard, neat repairs and slightly faded on spine of jacket, some other slight wear at folds

nineteen eighty-four. london: secker and warburg, 1949

Animal Farm. New York: Harcourt Brace and company, 1946, first American edition, dust-jacket, slight wear to jacket; Shooting an Elephant and other Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1950, first American edition, advance copy with publisher's slip tipped-in, dust-jacket; The Lion and the Unicorn. London: Secker and Warburg, 1941, first edition, jacket; England Your England. London: Secker and Warburg, 1953, first edition, jacket; original cloth bindings; 8vo (4)

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