MARX, Karl; Samuel MOORE and Edward AVELING (translators). Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production … Translated from the Third German Edition. London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 1889.
8vo. Original red cloth, blind-stamped decorative border to covers, spine ruled and lettered in gilt within a gilt rule border; pp. xxxi, [1], 816; hinges and head of spine expertly repaired, extremities lightly rubbed, a few marks to boards and spine, spine a little toned, but overall a very good copy; “H Cottrell 25 Church Street, L-Edmonton” in ink to half-title (see below).
[with, loosely inserted:]
HAZEL, A. P. A Summary of Marx’s “Capital”. Being a Concise Exposition of Marx’s Theory of Value. London: The Twentieth Century Press. 1907.
8vo. Original stapled paper wrappers, with photographic portrait of Marx to front; pp. 20; paper toned, central crease from folding, extremities a little rubbed, overall very good; “H Cottrell 25 Church Street, Edmonton” in ink to front wrapper.
[and:]
Single sheet of paper (180 x 210 mm), folded in two, printed heading “Cottrell & Drew, Hat Materials Merchants … Luton”, written in blue ink and dated 2 May 1946.
First stereotyped edition of Das Kapital (vol. I), apparently the second edition of Karl Marx to be published in English and the first to be issued in a single volume.
Samuel Moore (1838-1911), a lawyer and translator active in the Manchester branch of the First International, was commissioned by Friedrich Engels to prepare an English translation of Das Kapital shortly after Marx’s death in 1883. A close friend of both Marx and Engels, Moore had studied the work in depth since the publication of volume I in 1867 (volumes II and III followed posthumously in 1885 and 1894, respectively).
In 1884 Moore was joined by Edward Aveling (1849-1898) – who in the same year began his relationship with Marx’s daughter, Eleanor – and their translation was published with Engels’s full approval by Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co. in January 1887. The edition comprised 500 copies including 200 for the American market, and was issued in two volumes. Based on the original German text, the translation also incorporates the substantial revisions Marx made for the French edition, published in forty-four instalments between September 1872 and November 1875.
This stereotyped issue (printed from metal plates, called stereotypes, rather than composed movable type) constitutes the second UK edition of Das Kapital. It reproduces the text of the 1887 two-volume first English edition but is issued here for the first time in a single volume. The book was also distributed in the United States by D. Appleton & Co. of New York, whose name appears as co-publisher on the title page of American copies. When bearing this imprint, the edition is regarded as the first US edition.
Provenance: From the library of Henry Cottrell, co-proprietor of Cottrell & Drew, Hat Materials Merchants in Luton. Evidently a Marxist, Cottrell presented this copy of Marx, together with a second edition of A. P. Hazell’s summary, to his friend Dale and Dale’s son in 1946.
The text of the note runs as follows:
“2/5/1946
Dear Dale,
Your son has written asking […] if I can lend him Marx’s Capital (which his father failed to read) – same is enclosed – sorry I haven’t the later volumes.
Why not train your son to be a reasonable citizen – let his literary food be the Manchester Guardian Weekly.
& make it yours as well. Hope you are all well
Yours Cott.”
SKU: 2123974