COMMON, Jack. Kiddar's Luck
COMMON, Jack. Kiddar's Luck. London: Turnstile Press. 1951. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the marvellous wraparound dust jacket designed by Bernard Cheese. A near fine example overall, the cloth clean, the gilt to spine dulled, the spine tips a trifle pushed. The binding tight and square, the contents fine with small previous owner label to the front pastedown. The dust jacket price-clipped, with corners and tips very gently bumped, some tape reinforcement to the tips at verso, but very presentable overall. Uncommon in this condition.
Common’s most famous work, a semi-autobiographical account of childhood life in Edwardian Heaton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Common grew up very modestly, his father an engine-driver, his mother a typical North-East working-class housewife. After extensive bouts of unemployment, the editor, John Middleton Murry, spotted an essay he had written and offered him work for his magazine, The Adelph. Through this position, he became associates with the likes of E. M. Forster, Dylan Thomas, and most notably, Eric Arthur Blair [George Orwell]. Common became synonymous with the pure proletarian voice, and Orwell credited him as an inspiration to Animal Farm, stating, “this is the authentic voice of the ordinary man, the man who might infuse a new decency into he control of affairs if only he could get there, but who in practice never seems to get much further than the trenches, the sweatshop and the jail”. As sentiments towards working class voices expired, Common found himself largely, sadly and wrongly forgotten.
COMMON, Jack. Kiddar's Luck. London: Turnstile Press. 1951. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the marvellous wraparound dust jacket designed by Bernard Cheese. A near fine example overall, the cloth clean, the gilt to spine dulled, the spine tips a trifle pushed. The binding tight and square, the contents fine with small previous owner label to the front pastedown. The dust jacket price-clipped, with corners and tips very gently bumped, some tape reinforcement to the tips at verso, but very presentable overall. Uncommon in this condition.
Common’s most famous work, a semi-autobiographical account of childhood life in Edwardian Heaton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Common grew up very modestly, his father an engine-driver, his mother a typical North-East working-class housewife. After extensive bouts of unemployment, the editor, John Middleton Murry, spotted an essay he had written and offered him work for his magazine, The Adelph. Through this position, he became associates with the likes of E. M. Forster, Dylan Thomas, and most notably, Eric Arthur Blair [George Orwell]. Common became synonymous with the pure proletarian voice, and Orwell credited him as an inspiration to Animal Farm, stating, “this is the authentic voice of the ordinary man, the man who might infuse a new decency into he control of affairs if only he could get there, but who in practice never seems to get much further than the trenches, the sweatshop and the jail”. As sentiments towards working class voices expired, Common found himself largely, sadly and wrongly forgotten.
COMMON, Jack. Kiddar's Luck. London: Turnstile Press. 1951. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the marvellous wraparound dust jacket designed by Bernard Cheese. A near fine example overall, the cloth clean, the gilt to spine dulled, the spine tips a trifle pushed. The binding tight and square, the contents fine with small previous owner label to the front pastedown. The dust jacket price-clipped, with corners and tips very gently bumped, some tape reinforcement to the tips at verso, but very presentable overall. Uncommon in this condition.
Common’s most famous work, a semi-autobiographical account of childhood life in Edwardian Heaton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Common grew up very modestly, his father an engine-driver, his mother a typical North-East working-class housewife. After extensive bouts of unemployment, the editor, John Middleton Murry, spotted an essay he had written and offered him work for his magazine, The Adelph. Through this position, he became associates with the likes of E. M. Forster, Dylan Thomas, and most notably, Eric Arthur Blair [George Orwell]. Common became synonymous with the pure proletarian voice, and Orwell credited him as an inspiration to Animal Farm, stating, “this is the authentic voice of the ordinary man, the man who might infuse a new decency into he control of affairs if only he could get there, but who in practice never seems to get much further than the trenches, the sweatshop and the jail”. As sentiments towards working class voices expired, Common found himself largely, sadly and wrongly forgotten.