The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
“Poverty is not caused by men and women getting married; it's not caused by machinery; it's not caused by "over-production"; it's not caused by drink or laziness; and it's not caused by "over-population". It's caused by Private Monopoly. That is the present system.”
Written by Irish painter and decorator Robert Noonan under the pseudonym Robert Tressell (he feared the repercussions of expressing such strong socialist views, and liked the pun on ‘trestle table’, a primary tool of his trade), the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a novel of outstanding punch and clarity and was one of the first times such a work by a genuine member of the working class reached a broad audience in Britain. The original, handwritten manuscript was at first rejected by three publishers, leaving the writer depressed and having to be stopped from burning the book. When the rights were finally sold by his daughter (for a mere £25), it received enormous praise from the literary community, including George Orwell, who considered it 'a book that everyone should read' that left one 'with the feeling that a considerable novelist was lost in this young working-man whom society could not be bothered to keep alive.' This is the true UK first edition, extremely scarce in this form and an uncommonly sharp, Fine copy. A literary classic.
“Poverty is not caused by men and women getting married; it's not caused by machinery; it's not caused by "over-production"; it's not caused by drink or laziness; and it's not caused by "over-population". It's caused by Private Monopoly. That is the present system.”
Written by Irish painter and decorator Robert Noonan under the pseudonym Robert Tressell (he feared the repercussions of expressing such strong socialist views, and liked the pun on ‘trestle table’, a primary tool of his trade), the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a novel of outstanding punch and clarity and was one of the first times such a work by a genuine member of the working class reached a broad audience in Britain. The original, handwritten manuscript was at first rejected by three publishers, leaving the writer depressed and having to be stopped from burning the book. When the rights were finally sold by his daughter (for a mere £25), it received enormous praise from the literary community, including George Orwell, who considered it 'a book that everyone should read' that left one 'with the feeling that a considerable novelist was lost in this young working-man whom society could not be bothered to keep alive.' This is the true UK first edition, extremely scarce in this form and an uncommonly sharp, Fine copy. A literary classic.
“Poverty is not caused by men and women getting married; it's not caused by machinery; it's not caused by "over-production"; it's not caused by drink or laziness; and it's not caused by "over-population". It's caused by Private Monopoly. That is the present system.”
Written by Irish painter and decorator Robert Noonan under the pseudonym Robert Tressell (he feared the repercussions of expressing such strong socialist views, and liked the pun on ‘trestle table’, a primary tool of his trade), the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a novel of outstanding punch and clarity and was one of the first times such a work by a genuine member of the working class reached a broad audience in Britain. The original, handwritten manuscript was at first rejected by three publishers, leaving the writer depressed and having to be stopped from burning the book. When the rights were finally sold by his daughter (for a mere £25), it received enormous praise from the literary community, including George Orwell, who considered it 'a book that everyone should read' that left one 'with the feeling that a considerable novelist was lost in this young working-man whom society could not be bothered to keep alive.' This is the true UK first edition, extremely scarce in this form and an uncommonly sharp, Fine copy. A literary classic.