Charles' Wain. A Miscellany of Short Stories

London: The Mallinson Publishing Company, Ltd, 1933. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. London, The Mallinson Publishing Company, Ltd., 1933. Octavo, viii, 237 pages plus a limitation leaf, a frontispiece portrait of Charles Lahr by Nina Hamnett, and pictorial endpapers. Green cloth lettered in gilt on the spine; top edge gilt, others uncut (and unopened); cloth a little sunned, discoloured and slightly rubbed; limitation page a little smudged; a very good copy (internally fine). A collection of eighteen short stories dedicated to bookseller and anarchist Charles Lahr. This is number 56 of 95 copies signed by all 18 contributors, of which only 85 copies were for sale. The contributors are: John Arrow, H.E. Bates, Oswell Blakeston, Alec Bristow, John Brophy, Rhys Davies, Charles Duff, Rupert Croft-Cooke, John Hampson, John Lindsay, Eimar O'Duffy, Seán O'Faoláin, Liam O'Flaherty, L.A. Pavey, T.F. Powys, Gay Taylor, Geoffrey West, and Malachi Whitaker. The portrait is signed by Nina Hamnett: 'unconventionality among the artistic quarters of Montparnasse and Fitzrovia, where she also modelled for many artists, earned her the title "Queen of Bohemia"' (National Portrait Gallery website).

Lahr was proprietor of the Progressive Bookshop, and was involved in the clandestine distribution of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. 'Collapsed economic demand affected the book trade, as most others, and by 1933 he was experiencing significant financial difficulty. His predicament afforded the occasion for the only formal tribute he was to receive. His friends rallied and "a miscellany of short stories", "Charles' Wain", was assembled.... The intention was, of course, to raise funds for the Lahr family during their period of hardship, yet this act of solidarity was thwarted by the bankruptcy of the publisher, Mallinson, and the collection was largely undistributed' (David Goodway: 'Revisiting Charlie Lahr. The Powys Family and the Red Lion Street Circle', in 'The Powys Journal', Volume 31, 2021; page 135). The publication page gives the compiler as 'W.L.H.', and states that fourteen of the eighteen short stories are published here for the first time.

Loosely inserted is the final page of a typed letter signed by C.W. Beaumont, printer and publisher, possibly to a collector in Adelaide, South Australia (the lawyer Ronald Nickels Finlayson, 1882-1945). 'I am so sorry to hear that you already had a copy of "Charles' Wain". As a matter of fact I did not know of the book until Miss Nina Hamnett brought me her own copy to dispose of. As I thought you might like it I purchased the volume and sent it to you' (bookselling was certainly different in those days!).