The Labour annual : a year book of social, economic and political reform, 1897 Joseph Edwards [editor] Publication Date: 1896 Condition: Very Good

Title: The Labour annual : a year book of social, ...

Publisher: London : "Clarion" Company Ltd.

Publication Date: 1896

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st

2 pages advertising at front, 264 printed pages, plus 10 pages of publisher's adverts at the back. Portrait photographs and engraved illustrations and advertisements throughout. Endpapers with printed Labour Anuual small advertisement within printer's device. Owner's mark crossed out at foot of title page. Mild handling marks and some creased page corners. Page 89-90 (almost certainly an advertisement) excised and missing. Hinges cracked, accounting for slight fragility. 13 x 19 cm. Publisher's blue cloth gilt (costing 2 shillings, as opposed to just one shilling for the "Designed Cover" binding). Slightly worn at head and tail of spine. Corners slightly bumped. Some ageing and mild wear. The Labour Annuals were published from 1895 to 1900 and published by the Manchester Labour Press Society, after which the title changed to Reformer's Year Book and Labour Annual until 1909. Joseph Edwards also became a shareholder in the Labour Leader, national weekly newspaper, when it was taken over by the Party in 1904. This period before 1914 was the heyday, socially and politically for the International Labour Party and the creed of ethical socialism and internationalism that the Labour Annual supported was partly responsible for the formation of the ILP particularly in Salford and Manchester. Impeccable provenance: from Irene Wagner's personal library that I purchased in 2016 from her Grand-daughter at Irene's Bloomsbury flat where she had lived for 72 years. Wagner had been a senior Labour Party archivist, historian and former Party Chief Librarian. She helped found the International Association of Labour History Institutions. Irene was also a key supporter of the People's History Museum in Manchester. During the 2nd World War Irene worked at Woburn Abbey, in the political intelligence department of the Foreign Office, helping the Special Operations Executive distribute propaganda over Germany. WorldCat locates just four copies: at Strathclyde Andersonian Library, and a single copy in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Very uncommon book with association and provenance. Bookseller Inventory # 4297