Extremely scarce as such in any condition

Brittain, Vera ~ Seed of Chaos

First UK Printing : New Vision Publishing Company for the Bombing Restriction Committee : 1944

First UK Printing published by New Vision Publishing Company for the Bombing Restriction Committee in 1944. 8vo., original pictorial wraps, showing an image of bombs falling onto a town, printed in black and red; lettered and priced in black to backstrip, with further advertisements from the Bombing Restriction Committee printed to the lower cover; The BOOK a Very Good+ copy of a scarce ephemeral work, with creased covers vertically through folding; with additional creases along spine and lower cover; overall shelf wear, a little toned in places with the odd spot; front free endpaper with closed tears around rusted staples. The book is protected in a removable Mylar archival cover. First edition and only issued in wraps format. This copy with the previous ownership marking in blue felt pen to upper page [v]: '7387489 Pte. C. S. Chanter. 2245 Para. Field Ambulance.' Brittain is perhaps best known for her 1933 memoir 'Testament of Youth', which recounts her experiences as a nurse during WWI. It was after this time, and her harrowing experiences with death, that she became involved in the peace movement. Between the years of 1940 to 1946, she produced fortnightly ‘Letters to Peace-lovers’, and was subsequently blacklisted and banned from travel as a result. An active member of the Bombing Restriction Committee, she campaigned against the government's policy of 'murder and massacre', with the present publication providing an eye-witness account of its effects. Her argument - that war would only be prolonged through an endless cycle of revenge - provoked mass anger and abuse, to which she famously retaliated "when people abuse you and defend themselves, you know you have got under their skin and uncovered a bad conscience!" After the war, she continued to write for peaceful publications, and actively called for nuclear disarmament. A cheap and fragile wartime production and now extremely scarce as such in any condition. Collectible.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good+