New Writing etc. New Writing 1-5 (Spring 1936 - Spring 1938); New Writing New Series 1-3 (Autumn 1938 - Christmas 1939); Folios of New Writing 1-4 (Spring 1940 - Autumn 1941); Daylight volume 1 (1941, paperback original); New Writing & Daylight 1 -7 (Summer 1942 - 1946); New Writing in Europe (Pelican, 1940); Penguin New Writing 1-40 (1941-50); Pleasures of New Writing (John Lehmann, 1952).
London: John Lane The Bodley Head; Lawrence & Wishart; The Hogarth Press; Pelican Books; Penguin Books; John Lehmann, 1936-52. 8vo. 20 volumes of hardcovers and 42 volumes of paperback originals, set. Original cloth and wrappers. Most hardcover volumes include black and white photographic plates. Penguin New Writing cover illustrations from #27-38 are by John Minton. Hardcovers: Covers faded, dulled and a bit dust-marked. Some light rubbing and pushing to the extremities. Light foxing to the edges. Contents clean. Four volumes have an ink presentation on the flyleaf signed 'John' but it is not clear that this was John Lehmann. Very good +. Paperbacks: The covers of #8 are detached but present; the front covers of #14 & #15 are detached but present; the front cover of #16 is missing; the back cover of #22 is detached but present. A few early numbers have neat pencil ownerships inside and some of the numbers in the 20s have a neat ink ownership on the front cover. The first twenty or so are variously rubbed and worn with some tiny loss; the later numbers are very good +. Item #8347
A complete collection of John Lehmann's New Writing in its various hardback and paperback incarnations.
Begun as a bi-annual publication, the war contributed to various fluctuations in its fortunes and title. A deal with Allen Lane led to the paperback companion series of Penguin New Writing (1941-50) - the first issue sold 80,000 copies (by comparison, Cyril Connolly's Horizon had managed 3,500 of its first printing). Throughout, the quality of mostly left-leaning contributors remained very high. They included Auden, Isherwood, Spender, Pritchett and articles about Mass-Observation by Tom Harrisson. There were two articles by George Orwell: 'Shooting an Elephant' appeared in New Writing 2 (and was the first piece in Penguin New Writing 1), and 'Marrakech' in New Writing New Series 3. John Lehmann always had his nose to the ground for the best new writing of his era. This collection ends with his own anthology of 'Pleasures of New Writing' and also includes his 'New Writing in Europe' which was issued by Pelican in 1940.
Complete sets are very uncommon.
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Price: £750.00