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PROLETARIAN LITERATURE

PROLETARIAN LITERATURE

We have established ourselves as leading specialists in collectible books by American radical and proletarian writers, from the social reform literature of the 19th century to the literary counterculture of the 1960s, with many stops in between: Utopian fiction, literature of the Great Depression, Women's novels, African-American literature and much more. As with all of our inventory, we place a very strong emphasis on condition, and strive to offer the very best copies available.

At any given time only a fraction of our inventory is catalogued and listed on-line. If you're searching for a specific author, title or subject area, please click here to access our extremely functional and easy-to-use automatic wants-matching system.

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  • Judios Sin Dinero [Jews Without Money. Michael GOLD.

    Judios Sin Dinero [Jews Without Money]

    GOLD, Michael

    Octavo. Original pictorial wrappers, lightly worn at extremities; faint vertical crease to front cover; Very Good.

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  • The Winning of Sarenne. St. Clair BEALL, Louis F. Grant, pseud. Upton Sinclair.

    The Winning of Sarenne

    BEALL, St. Clair [pseud. Upton Sinclair]; Louis F. Grant, illus.

    Octavo (19.25cm.); publisher's grey-green decorative cloth embossed in darker green, pictorial plate mounted to upper cover; 343pp.; frontispiece, two plates. Boards a bit rubbed, front hinge just starting, else a Very Good and sound copy, much better than usually seen.

    More info about The Winning of Sarenne

  • The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism [Ben Shahn's Copy. Elie HALÉVY, trans Mary Morris, pref A D. Lindsay.

    The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism [Ben Shahn's Copy]

    HALÉVY, Elie; Mary Morris, trans.; A.D. Lindsay, pref.

    Octavo (22.5cm.); publisher's cloth in blue printed price-clipped dust jacket; xvii,[1],554pp. Jacket extremities rather toned, tiny chips including loss at spine crown affecting a couple of letters without loss of meaning; overall Near Fine in Very Good jacket. Text divided into three sections: "The Youth of Bentham (1776-1789)"; "The Evolution.....

    More info about The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism [Ben Shahn's Copy

  • Glibson. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Glibson

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] TICHENOR, George

    Reprint. Octavo (20.5cm); light blue cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front panel; red topstain; 342pp. Subtle darkening to cloth at spine and edges, light offsetting to endpapers and a few tiny nicks to rear pastedown; Very Good+ to Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped, with shallow chipping.....

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  • La Croisade De Lee Gordon (Lonely Crusade. AFRICAN AMERICANA, Chester HIMES, Richard WRIGHT, Yves MALARTIC, novel, preface, translation.

    La Croisade De Lee Gordon (Lonely Crusade)

    [AFRICAN AMERICANA] HIMES, Chester (novel); WRIGHT, Richard (preface); MALARTIC, Yves (translation)

    First Impression. Octavo (19cm); original printed wrappers; [7],8-384,[4]pp. Light wear to extremities and base of spine, with a tiny tear and attendant crease at right edge of front wrapper; page untrimmed; Near Fine, lacking the scarce pictorial dustjacket.

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  • A Women's Poetry Reading. All Women Are Welcome To Read Their Poetry. IOWA CITY WOMEN'S PRESS COLLECTIVE.

    A Women's Poetry Reading. All Women Are Welcome To Read Their Poetry...

    [IOWA CITY WOMEN'S PRESS COLLECTIVE]

    Quarto. Pictorial card wrappers, cord-bound with bailing twine; [66pp]. Wrapper edges slightly bumped, else clean and unmarked; contents Fine.

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  • Comrade Yetta. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, pseud. of Arthur Bullard.

    Comrade Yetta

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] EDWARDS, Albert (pseud. of Arthur Bullard)

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); dark blue cloth, blocked and titled in burgundy and gilt on spine and front cover; viii, 448, [8]pp ads. Neat, contemporary owner's name and date to front endpaper (a "Dr. L.W. Truman"). Mild external wear, with light rubbing to corners and spine ends; hinges very lightly.....

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  • Equality. UTOPIAS, RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Equality

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] [UTOPIAS] BELLAMY, Edward

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); blue-gray cloth, with titling and decorative elements stamped in silver and black on spine and front cover; viii,412,[8]pp ads. Gently spine-sunned, lightly edgeworn, with some faint moisture staining to lower front and rear covers (though contents unaffected); previous owners ink name to front endpaper, with some.....

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  • Original Broadside: Post Mortem Ante Facto. NEW LEFT - SITUATIONISM, "Anonymous Proletarian", Bruce Elwell.

    Original Broadside: Post Mortem Ante Facto

    [NEW LEFT - SITUATIONISM] "Anonymous Proletarian" (pseudonym of Bruce Elwell)

    Broadside, 44cm x 57cm. Printed offset in black on white uncoated lithograhic paper; text in two columns beneath headline in Gothic type. Minor wrinkling at margins, else Fine.

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  • The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. Upton SINCLAIR, Jack LONDON, introd.

    The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest

    SINCLAIR, Upton (ed); Jack LONDON (introd)

    Octavo (18cm). Printed buff wrappers; 891pp + ads. Covers and text mildly toned; still a tight, lightly worn copy of the unusual wrappered edition. Simultaneously reprinted in cloth by Sinclair; initially published by John C. Winston & Co. in 1915.

    More info about The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest

  • My Uncle Benjamin: A Humorous, Satirical, and Philosophical Novel. ANARCHISTS, I W. W., Claude TILLIER, trans Benj. R. Tucker, sketch Ludwig Pfau.

    My Uncle Benjamin: A Humorous, Satirical, and Philosophical Novel

    [ANARCHISTS & I.W.W.] TILLIER, Claude; Benj. R. Tucker, trans.; Ludwig Pfau, sketch...

    Octavo (19.5cm.); publisher's red gilt-lettered cloth; 312,[3](ads)pp.; added color lithographic title page. Light shelf wear, miniscule damp spot to upper cover, spine a shade darkened, contemporary ownership signature to front free endpaper and bookplate to front pastedown, late 20th-century bookseller's ticket to front pastedown, else Very Good or better.

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  • The Masses - Vol.VIII, No.12 (October, 1916. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, Max EASTMAN, Boardman ROBINSON, cover art.

    The Masses - Vol.VIII, No.12 (October, 1916)

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] EASTMAN, Max (editor); ROBINSON, Boardman (cover art)

    Large quarto (35cm); pictorial wrappers, stapled; 34pp; illus. Light toning and handling to wrappers, oxidation to lower staple, with upper staple lacking; Very Good+.

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  • Instead of a Book by a Man Too Busy to Write One. A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical. ANARCHISM, Ben TUCKER, amin, icketson.

    Instead of a Book by a Man Too Busy to Write One...

    [ANARCHISM] TUCKER, Benj[amin] R[icketson]

    Octavo. Publisher's blue-gray cloth boards, lettered in gilt on spine; blind-stamped decorative borders to front board; red edge-stain; frontispiece portrait; x,[1]-512,[1]pp. A typically worn copy; boards evenly rubbed and soiled, with board exposure at upper corners and mild fraying to spine ends; both hinges thinly cracked (but holding); text clean.....

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  • Soviet River. Leonid LEONOV, introd Maxim Gorki.

    Soviet River

    LEONOV, Leonid (Maxim Gorki, introd)

    Octavo. Red cloth boards, lettered in black on spine; dustjacket; 383pp. Paper-clip indent to first few leaves of text, else a tight, straight and unmarked copy, VG or better, in the original pictorial dustwrapper, lightly rubbed and soiled with a few small nicks at extremities. A Very Good, quite handsome.....

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  • Télephe en XII livres. ANONYMOUS, Jean PECHMEJA.

    Télephe en XII livres

    ANONYMOUS [PECHMEJA, Jean]

    Octavo; pp. [6],264pp.; [*]4 A-Q8 R4; woodcut title page vignette, head- and tail-pieces; full contemporary red imitation morocco, double ruled in gilt, flat spine decorated in gilt. Extremities rubbed with boards occasionally exposed, contemporary blue ribbon marker detached but present. A Very Good, attractive copy.

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  • When God Laughs and Other Stories. Jack LONDON.

    When God Laughs and Other Stories

    LONDON, Jack

    First printing. Title leaf a cancel (as with all copies, per Blanck). Octavo (19cm). Original pictorial cloth boards, stamped in colors on spine and front cover; ix, 319, (4)pp; illus. Previous owner's bookplate pasted inside front board; cloth slightly rubbed at crown and heel; spine design slightly dulled; a tight.....

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  • The Thirty-Six Trades of the State. ANARCHISM, Arsène ALEXANDRE, trans Benj. R. Tucker.

    The Thirty-Six Trades of the State

    [ANARCHISM] ALEXANDRE, Arsène; Benj. R. Tucker, trans.

    12mo (17cm.); staplebound self-wrappers; 10pp. Shallow chips and tiny losses to wrapper extremities, the whole a bit toned and dust-soiled, else Very Good and sound. Publisher's advertisements printed on pp. [11] and [14] (rear wrapper).

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  • Episodes & Epistles. Poems by W.L. Walter LOWENFELS.

    Episodes & Epistles. Poems by W.L.

    LOWENFELS, Walter

    Octavo. Cloth-backed boards; 80pp. Discoloration to board edges; ownership signature to front endpaper (Mary Elizabeth Raub); a Very Good copy. The prolific radical poet's rather uncommon first book, a collection of aesthetic verse displaying only glimpses of the vigorous, polemical tone of Lowenfels's later work.

    More info about Episodes & Epistles. Poems by W.L

  • The Ghostland. GREAT DEPRESSION, RADICAL, PROLETARIAN FICTION.

    The Ghostland

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN FICTION] [GREAT DEPRESSION] ROTHERMELL, Fred

    Octavo (20.5cm.); pictorial cloth with matching pictorial dustjacket; 350pp. Tight, Near Fine copy in lightly worn jacket with brief losses at crown of spine.

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  • At Bay (Signed, Limited edition. James HANLEY.

    At Bay (Signed, Limited edition)

    HANLEY, James

    Octavo. Green cloth boards, lettered in gilt on spine and front cover, with gilt decorative device to center of rear board; dustjacket; unpaged. Number 120 of 250 hand-numbered and signed copies in the "Grayson Books" series of limited editions. Prelims foxed; jacket toned on spine with small losses; Very Good.....

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  • The Gilded Hearse. Charles O. GORHAM.

    The Gilded Hearse

    GORHAM, Charles O.

    First Printing. Octavo (ca.21cm); cream linen, titled and blocked in navy blue and gilt on spine; dustjacket; 246pp. Hint of spotting to upper rear fore-edge, else Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, unclipped, with some pinpoint rubbing to extremities and a tiny bruise to lower front joint. Gorham's first novel.....

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  • Join The Party. SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA, Charles Edward RUSSELL.

    Join The Party

    [SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA] RUSSELL, Charles Edward

    Edition and printing not stated. 4-pp leaflet (single folded sheet); text on all four pages. Mild age-toning to paper, still Very Good. Ephemeral recruiting brochure, with invitation and instructions for joining the Socialist Party, likely distributed at Russell's speaking engagements during his U.S. Senate campaign of 1913-14. A popular muckracking.....

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  • Queen Mab. SHELLEY, sshe.

    Queen Mab

    SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe

    Stated second American edition. 12mo (18.5cm). In original cream paper-covered boards, backed in light green muslin, with original printed paper label to spine, largely intact; plain endpapers; viii [9] 10-120pp. Ink ownership inscription of H. A. Fletcher to title page. Temoin on final leaf of text. Straight, tight, and clean.....

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  • In the Heart of a Fool [Inscribed & Signed by Upton Sinclair to His Mother. Upton SINCLAIR, William Allen WHITE.

    In the Heart of a Fool [Inscribed & Signed by Upton Sinclair...

    [SINCLAIR, Upton] WHITE, William Allen

    Octavo (19.25cm.); original green decorative cloth embossed in gilt; [8],615,[1],[7](ads)pp. Cloth rather worn and textblock rather loose in binding, spine gilt quite dulled, else a Good and sound copy. Inscribed and signed by Upton Sinclair on front free endpaper: "To Mother / with Love / Xmas, 1918 / Upton."

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  • Lo Sciopero dei Risaiuoli. Dramma Rivoluzionario in 4 Atti Con Prologo D'Introduzione. 2e Edizione. ANARCHIST LITERATURE - ITALY, Tomaso CONCORDIA.

    Lo Sciopero dei Risaiuoli. Dramma Rivoluzionario in 4 Atti Con Prologo D'Introduzione...

    [ANARCHIST LITERATURE - ITALY] CONCORDIA, Tomaso

    Second edition. Octavo (23cm x 17cm). Pictorial paper wrappers; 117,[8]pp. Slight raggedness and small losses to paper on spine, partially obscuring title, else a fresh, Very Good or better copy. With a Preface by Gino Piastra and an "Introductory Monologue" by "Right" (pseud?). Text entirely in Italian. Extremely uncommon anarchist.....

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  • Parachute Shop Blues and other writings of New Orleans [Title from cover: Parachute Shop Blues. Carl SENNA.

    Parachute Shop Blues and other writings of New Orleans [Title from cover...

    SENNA, Carl (ed)

    Octavo (21cm). Pictorial card wrappers; 82pp. Trivial external dusting, else a fine, unread copy.

    More info about Parachute Shop Blues and other writings of New Orleans [Title from cover: Parachute Shop Blues...

  • We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years. Poem by an unknown Proletarian. Music by Rudolph Von. I W. W., "By An Unknown Proletarian".

    We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years. Poem by an...

    [I.W.W.] "By An Unknown Proletarian"

    Bifolium (35.5cm); cream wrappers, with text and illustration printed in dark blue; [4]pp. Modest wear and handling, with several tears and attendant creases (though none encroaching into words, music, or design); Very Good.

    More info about We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years. Poem by an unknown Proletarian. Music by Rudolph Von...

  • 100%: The Story of a Patriot. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    100%: The Story of a Patriot

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] SINCLAIR, Upton

    First Printing, cloth issue. Octavo (19.25cm); maroon cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; dustjacket; 329,[1],[5]pp ads. Crown gently nudged, small circular sticker shadow to upper right corner of front endpaper, else Near Fine. Dustjacket is gently spine-sunned, showing moderate edgewear and dust-soil overall, with several.....

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  • What Shall We Do? ANARCHISM, Jo LABADIE.

    What Shall We Do?

    [ANARCHISM] LABADIE, Jo

    4-pp leaflet, 14cm x 9cm. Printed in black on newsprint. Paper somewhat age-darkened, but still supple and well-preserved; Good to Very Good. Prints the text of Labadie's poem "What Shall We Do?," which originally appeared in the Detroit News for Oct 22, 1902. Concludes with a brief agitational paragraph: "Capitalism.....

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  • The Big Money. John DOS PASSOS.

    The Big Money

    DOS PASSOS, John

    First printing. Octavo; blue cloth, titles stamped in silver on spine and front cover; 561pp. Tight and clean, with board corners just touched; titling remains bright and unfaded on spine and front cover; Near Fine, lacking the dustwrapper. The third volume in Dos Passos' acclaimed "USA Trilogy."

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  • No More Peace! A Thoughtful Comedy. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, Ernst TOLLER, trans Edward Crankshaw, lyric W H. Auden.

    No More Peace! A Thoughtful Comedy

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] TOLLER, Ernst; Edward Crankshaw, trans.; W.H. Auden, lyric...

    First Printing. Small octavo (19.5cm.); publisher's cloth in red and black pictorial price-clipped dust jacket signed in image by "Suba," black topstain; [10],166pp. General edge wear to jacket extremities, including small loss at spine crown not approaching text, some minor dust-soil, corners gently bumped, else Very Good or better in.....

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  • Archive of Correspondence to and from J.R. Lamour [aka Yves Malartic. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE.

    Archive of Correspondence to and from J.R. Lamour [aka Yves Malartic]

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] SINCLAIR, Upton

    Archive of six TNS (typed notes, signed), five TLS (typed letters, signed), and one Western Union telegram from Upton Sinclair to the Paris literary agent and translator Jean-Robert Lamour (better known by his pseudonym, Yves Malartic). Together with ten of Lamour's retained carbons of communications to Sinclair and others. Correspondence.....

    More info about Archive of Correspondence to and from J.R. Lamour [aka Yves Malartic

  • New Masses - Vol.XXIII, No.6 (April 27, 1937. SORIANO, cover art.

    New Masses - Vol.XXIII, No.6 (April 27, 1937)

    SORIANO (cover art)

    Quarto (31cm); illustrated wrappers, stapled; 32pp; illus. Some wear and toning to extremities, thin strip of dust-soil to upper edge of rear wrapper, with a few tiny nicks and tears; Very Good+.

    More info about New Masses - Vol.XXIII, No.6 (April 27, 1937

  • Bowery Parade and Other Poems of Protest. Stella Wynne HERRON, Joses Clemento Orozco.

    Bowery Parade and Other Poems of Protest

    HERRON, Stella Wynne; Joses Clemento Orozco (illus)

    12mo. Black cloth boards, lettered in red on spine and front cover; original patterened glassine dustwrapper (unprinted); [40]pp; 2 inserted leaves of plates (reproducing lithographs by Orózco. Upper board edges slightly sunned, else a tight, Near Fine copy in the scarce publisher's spiderweb glassine, chipped along upper edge and with.....

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  • The Gospel According to Night. The Book of Ben Part One. Opal NATIONS.

    The Gospel According to Night. The Book of Ben Part One

    NATIONS, Opal

    Quarto (29.5cm). Side-stapled sheets; pictorial thick paper wrappers; 18pp (printed recto-only). Mild external soil and some aging to text; Very Good or better. Uncommon work by the prolific Anglo-American musician/producer/illustrator/author, long-time radio host at KPFA, the Oakland, California affiliate of Pacifica Radio, and proprietor of the Strange Faeces Press.

    More info about The Gospel According to Night. The Book of Ben Part One

  • We Fished All Night. AFRICAN AMERICANA, Willard MOTLEY.

    We Fished All Night

    [AFRICAN AMERICANA] MOTLEY, Willard

    First Printing. Octavo (22cm); taupe cloth, with titles stamped in navy blue on spine and front cover; dustjacket; xii,560,[4]pp. Spine ends gently nudged, some faint spotting to lower edge of textblock; Near Fine. Dustjacket is price-clipped, lightly edgeworn, with a hint of sunning to spine, several tiny closed tears to.....

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  • In Egypt Land. RADICAL& PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, John BEECHER.

    In Egypt Land

    [RADICAL& PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] BEECHER, John

    Octavo (24cm). Originial red cloth with laid on cover and spine titles; 29pp; boldly inscribed to Richard and Margot Archer on first free endpaper. One of 400 copies. Sunning to cloth of spine, else fine. A long poem on the theme of southern poverty and civil rights. Issued as Morning.....

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  • Land of Roseberries / Tierra de Moras. Drawings by David Alfaro Siqueiros. Walter LOWENFELS.

    Land of Roseberries / Tierra de Moras. Drawings by David Alfaro Siqueiros

    LOWENFELS, Walter

    Octavo (19.5cm). Pictorial paper wrappers; 139pp. Bilingual text, with Spanish-language portion translated by Sergio Mondragón. One thousand copies printed. Inscribed on half-title: "For Sid Finkelstein who knows how to read as well as write," signed, dated 1965. Covers sligthly rubbed; spine a shade sunned; text gently tanned; Very Good. Poems.....

    More info about Land of Roseberries / Tierra de Moras. Drawings by David Alfaro Siqueiros

  • The Masses - Vol.IX, No.3 (January, 1917. RADICAL, PROLETARIAN LITERATURE, Max EASTMAN, Frank WALTS, cover art.

    The Masses - Vol.IX, No.3 (January, 1917)

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] EASTMAN, Max (editor); WALTS, Frank (cover art)

    Quarto (28cm); original pictorial wrappers, stapled; 44pp; illus. Light wear to extremities, short split to wrappers at lower spine-fold, with some oxidation to staples, a few faint patches of foxing to front wrapper, with previous owners last name in grease pencil at upper front wrapper; contents with subtle tanning to.....

    More info about The Masses - Vol.IX, No.3 (January, 1917

  • Biddy Brogan's Boy. Jim TULLY.

    Biddy Brogan's Boy

    TULLY, Jim

    First Printing. Octavo (20.5cm); blue cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; 300pp. Hint of sunning to spine, with rubber-stamped 'C' on rear pastedown; very Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped, spine-sunned, with light edgewear and a few tiny nicks at the crown; Very Good+.

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