Very elusive in the wrapper

Bell, Julian [Ed.] ~ We Did Not Fight : 1914-18 Experiences of War-Resisters

Cobden-Sanderson, London : 1935

The First UK Printing published by Cobden-Sanderson, London in 1935. 8vo., black publisher's cloth, lettered in red to the spine; together in the unclipped red and black printed dustwrapper ('7s 6d net' to the front flap); TheE BOOK is in Very Good++ condition, square, tight and unmarked internally, with one tiny splash mark to the fore-edge; lightly pushed to the spine tips; the lower board has some mottling to the cloth but remains clean; The WRAPPER is complete and is in Very Good+ condition, and superior to most otherwise found ; overall some toning to the edges and the spine. A vertical crease to the spine with some light shelf-wear and rubbing along the folds; Some light nicks to the edges of folds. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition of this work on the resisters of the First World War, with a Foreword by Canon H. R. L. Sheppard, and edited by Virginia Woolf's nephew Julian Bell, who provides the nine page introduction. Contributors include Lord Allen of Hurtwood, David Garnett, Bertrand Russell, Olaf Stapledon, James Maxton and many others. Siegfried Sassoon - the only one to have fought in the war - contributes a three-stanza poem to p. [v], and Virginia Woolf's brother Adrian Stephen also provides the final contribution. Published before the outbreak of the Second World War, the wrapper somewhat prophetically decries that 'The present period of war...has produced in a large number of persons a determination either that there shall be no 'next time,' or if there is, they at least, will refuse to take part'. The contributors cover the process of resistance, but also the alternative service provided by those persons throughout the four years, contributing to their country by means of ambulance services and the 'No-Conscription Fellowship', as well as Pacifist movements including the Ford Peace Ship and the docker's strike against the transport of ammunition to Poland, and similar shows of resistance in other countries around Europe, including Germany, France and Austria. Between the passing of the Conscription Act in 1916 and Armistice day, 16,000 men refused to take part in military service, and some 1300 of those refused all forms of alternative service, and were consequently sent to prison. An interesting work detailing the experiences of just a select few conscientious objectors during WW1. Very elusive in the wrapper.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++
JACKET: Very Good+