ORWELL, George ~ The English People.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Collins, London: 1947.

8vo., green publisher's boards, lettered, decorated and ruled in white; together in the repeat dustwrapper; eight plates in full colour, and a further 17 black and white in text throughout; THE BOOK with boards a little splayed, with some toning, offsetting and spotting; previous bookseller's sticker to front paste-down; a very good copy in the very good DUSTWRAPPER which is a little toned, rubbed along edges and darkened to spine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, no. 100 in the 'Britain in Pictures' series, and one of the most desirable books in the set. Orwell's vivid depictions of British characters are paired with illustrations by John Minton, Edward Ardizzone and L. S. Lowry, among others. Appraisals range from farmers to fishmongers, and the working class to the bourgeoisie. With an increasingly political eye, chapters include 'The English Class System' and 'The Future of the English People' which 'should provoke those of contrary opinion to examine their own beliefs without sentimentality or hypocrisy (dust wrapper). The Britain in Picture Series was a collection of 126 propaganda titles published during the Second World War with the intention of boosting morale and creativity in wartime Britain. Other titles in the series included 'British Romantic Artists' (illustrated by John Piper), 'English Printed Books' (Francis Meynell) and 'British Photographers' (Cecil Beaton). Increasingly elusive in a nice dustwrapper.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good