VICTORY OR VESTED INTEREST?

First edition in book form, first printing. Publisher's original light brown cloth with black titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth bright and fresh. Printed on war economy paper. The contents, spotted to the endpapers are otherwise clean and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the rubbed, nicked and darkened dustwrapper that has three short closed tears (secured with small pieces of tape to the underside) and some chipping to the spine tips. Not price-clipped (5s net to the lower front flap). Scarce.

A thought-provoking analysis of wartime challenges, societal dynamics, and the pursuit of victory while navigating vested interests. Based on a series of lectures delivered in 1941 under the auspices of the Fabian Society. Contributors include: G. D. H. Cole 'Private Monopoly or Public Service'; Francis Williams 'Equality of Sacrifice'; Professor Harold Laski 'Democracy in War-Time'; Mary Sutherland 'Women and the War'; George Orwell 'Culture and Democracy'. Orwell delivered his lecture from notes and refused to provide a script. This subsequent publication incurred his ire, directed towards the Fabian Society, who had borne the responsibility for passing the stenographer's script "grossly altered without my knowledge" to George Routledge. 'Victory of Vested Interest?' was first published on the 15th May 1942 in an edition of 6,311 copies. (Fenwick B.17).