Skip to main content

Lorne Bair Rare Books

Lorne Bair Rare Books Logo
Account | Cart
Advanced Search

Main Navigation

Toggle main navigation
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Browse
  • Wants
  • New Arrivals
  • Catalogs

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.

See All Books in
this Category

  • New Masses - Vol.XXIV, No.1 (June 29, 1937

    New Masses - Vol.XXIV, No.1 (June 29, 1937)

    BARTLETT, Joe (cover art)

    Quarto (31cm); illustrated wrappers, stapled; 32pp; illus. Light wear and toning, several nicks and tears to extremities and along upper margins; Very Good+.

    More info about New Masses - Vol.XXIV, No.1 (June 29, 1937

  • In the Heart of a Fool [Inscribed & Signed by Upton Sinclair to His Mother

    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."

    More info about In the Heart of a Fool [Inscribed & Signed by Upton Sinclair to His Mother

  • New Poems. Eighty Songs at Eighty - The Fifth Book of Verse (signed copy

    New Poems. Eighty Songs at Eighty - The Fifth Book of Verse...

    MARKHAM, Edwin

    Octavo. Green cloth boards, lettered in gilt on spine, with pictorial device to front board; 114pp. Spine gilt dulled, a little shaken, still a Very Good, unmarked copy, signed by the prominent socialist poet on front endpaper. Lacking jacket.

    More info about New Poems. Eighty Songs at Eighty - The Fifth Book of Verse (signed copy

  • Two Plays: Juno and the Paycock; The Shadow of a Gunman

    Two Plays: Juno and the Paycock; The Shadow of a Gunman

    O'CASEY, Sean

    Octavo (19.5cm.); original cloth in yellow decorative dust jacket printed in brown; [6],199pp. A few short closed tears to jacket extremities, minor soil and shelf-wear, some brief soil spots to bottom textblock edge, else Near Fine in Very Good jacket. First two plays of the author's proletarian Dublin Trilogy, the.....

    More info about Two Plays: Juno and the Paycock; The Shadow of a Gunman

  • Manassas: A Novel of the War

    Manassas: A Novel of the War

    [SOCIAL FICTION] [CIVIL WAR] SINCLAIR, Upton

    Octavo. Original publisher's gilt-pictorial cloth; 412pp + 6p publisher's catalog. Light wear to board edges, else a tight, Near Fine copy with blue-green top-stain just slightly faded.

    More info about Manassas: A Novel of the War

  • Oil! A Novel

    Oil! A Novel

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] SINCLAIR, Upton

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); maroon cloth, with titling and pictorial elements stamped in yellow on spine and front cover; yellow topstain; [vi],527,[3]pp. Forward lean, some wear to spine ends, with rough erasure to previous owners name to front endpaper; contents clean; Very Good+.

    More info about Oil! A Novel

  • Home Is The Sailor: The Story of an American Seaman

    Home Is The Sailor: The Story of an American Seaman

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] MCHENRY, Beth & Frederick N. Myers

    First Printing, cloth issue. Octavo (20cm); orange cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine; dustjacket; [8],9-250,[6]pp. Clean and unmarked in original pictorial dustwrapper, unclipped and generally clean but for a moisture stain extending halfway up the rear flap-fold; this had bled through to cause a faint line of discoloration.....

    More info about Home Is The Sailor: The Story of an American Seaman

  • Ditte: Girl Alive

    Ditte: Girl Alive

    NEXO, Martin Andersen

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); red cloth with titles and design stamped in gilt on the spine; dustjacket; 268pp, [2] ads. Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, with a few tiny nicks at spine ends and three faint splash marks on the spine.

    More info about Ditte: Girl Alive

  • Depression Island

    Depression Island

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] SINCLAIR, Upton

    Red cloth boards; dustjacket; 124pp. Tight, straight copy, about Fine in the uncommon dustjacket, lightly rubbed and soiled but still attractive and free of losses, VG or better.

    More info about Depression Island

  • A Man of Little Faith

    A Man of Little Faith

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] Kauffman, Reginald Wright

    Green cloth boards; dustjacket. One of an unspecified number of publisher's presentation copies, with tipped-on label bearing author's signature to front pastedown. Remainder issue, in Grosset & Dunlap dustjacket but with correct publisher's slug to spine, title page, and copyright page (jacket not supplied; as issued). Endpapers a little grubby.....

    More info about A Man of Little Faith

  • The Rag-Picker of Paris. Translated from the French by Benj. R. Tucker

    The Rag-Picker of Paris. Translated from the French by Benj. R. Tucker

    PYAT, Felix

    Octavo. Publisher's orange pictorial cloth; floral endpapers; [4],[i]-v,[5]-317pp; inserted portrait frontispiece. Mild rubbing to cloth at spine ends; few small spots where cloth is lifting on front and rear boards, still a nice, bright copy with firm joints and hinges, quite fresh internally.

    More info about The Rag-Picker of Paris. Translated from the French by Benj. R. Tucker

  • Ditte: Towards The Stars

    Ditte: Towards The Stars

    NEXO, Martin Andersen; KENNEY, Asta and Roland (transl)

    Octavo (19cm); red cloth with titles and design stamped in gilt on the spine; dustjacket; 268pp, [4] ads. Split at front hinge neatly mended; Very Good, clean throughout, with bright cloth and the spine gilt unrubbed. Dustjacket is slightly toned at the spine, with light, general wear at the extremities.....

    More info about Ditte: Towards The Stars

  • Bricks Without Straw [Inscribed & Signed by the Author & Sixty-Two Guests at a Party...

    Bricks Without Straw [Inscribed & Signed by the Author & Sixty-Two Guests...

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] NORRIS, Charles G.

    Octavo (20.5cm.); publisher's red cloth, decorative spine stamped in black and gilt, red topstain; [6],365pp. Cloth rather discolored from damp and soil, most heavily so to rear cover, spine cocked, brief and shallow loss of cloth and board at top edge of rear cover. Good to Very Good only. Inscribed.....

    More info about Bricks Without Straw [Inscribed & Signed by the Author & Sixty-Two Guests at a Party...

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

    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

  • The Cruise of the Training Ship; or, Clif Faraday's Pluck

    The Cruise of the Training Ship; or, Clif Faraday's Pluck

    FITCH, Clarke [pseud. Upton Sinclair]

    Octavo (19cm.); publisher's blue pictorial cloth stamped in gilt, yellow, blue, and green; [6],ii,[7],281,[1],[32](ads)pp.; frontispiece. Extremities a bit rubbed and worn, general dust-soil, spine rather dulled with some fraying at ends, contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper, else Very Good and sound. OCLC locates 7 copies as of November.....

    More info about The Cruise of the Training Ship; or, Clif Faraday's Pluck

  • Banners of Brotherhood: An Anthology of Social Vision Verse

    Banners of Brotherhood: An Anthology of Social Vision Verse

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] CHEYNEY, Ralph, ed.

    Small, slim 12mo (16cm.); publisher's tan pictorial card wrappers, yapp edges; [2],38pp.; printed on stiff tan handmade stock. Light edge wear, faint dampstaining along spine edge of upper and rear cover (not bleeding into textblock); Very Good overall, internally fine and unopened. "Driftwood Chapbook No. 2."

    More info about Banners of Brotherhood: An Anthology of Social Vision Verse

  • What Diantha Did

    What Diantha Did

    [WOMEN] GILMAN, Charlotte Perkins

    First printing. Octavo (20cm). Maroon cloth-covered boards, titled in gilt on spine and front cover; 250,[4]pp. Straight, tight, and clean with a brief (ca 3/4") split to inner front hinge at gutter; Very Good or better. Gilman's first full-length novel, originally published serially in her magazine The Forerunner from 1909.....

    More info about What Diantha Did

  • Vapautta Varrotessa ["Waiting for Freedom"

    Vapautta Varrotessa ["Waiting for Freedom"]

    MATTSON, Helmi

    Small octavo (19cm). Pictorial card wrappers; 94pp. Covers somewhat worn, with a few spots of discoloration; gift label inside front cover; text complete, clean and unmarked. A solid, presentable copy, about Very Good.

    More info about Vapautta Varrotessa ["Waiting for Freedom"

  • Circus Parade

    Circus Parade

    [RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] TULLY, Jim

    Octavo (19.5cm); purple cloth, with titling and decorative elements stamed in pale metallic green on spine and front cover; 248pp. Forward lean, small stain to lower left corner of front board, with a hint of sunning to spine; clean throughout; Very Good+ or better. Dustjacket is price-clipped, lightly edgeworn and.....

    More info about Circus Parade

  • The Original 1939 Notebook of a Return to the Native Land. Bilingual Edition

    The Original 1939 Notebook of a Return to the Native Land. Bilingual...

    CÉSAIRE, Aimé; A. James Arnold & Clayton Eshleman, transl

    First printing. Octavo; cloth hardcover; dustjacket; 73pp. Fine and unmarked in fine dustwrapper. First bilingual edition of of the Martiniquan author's early masterpiece, originally published in French in 1939.

    More info about The Original 1939 Notebook of a Return to the Native Land. Bilingual Edition

  • Cynics: A Novel

    Cynics: A Novel

    MARIENHOFF, Anatol; Valdemar D. Bell and Louis Coleman, trans.

    Small octavo (19.25cm.); original cloth in green pictorial dust jacket, blue top- and fore-edge stain; 237pp. Some wear to jacket extremities, including a few tiny shallow losses at corners; light spotting to jacket spine; Fine in About Very Good jacket.

    More info about Cynics: A Novel

  • Darkness and Dawn

    Darkness and Dawn

    ENGLAND, George Allan

    First Printing. Thick octavo (19.25cm); maroon cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; pictorial endpapers; xii,[2],3-672pp; with pictorial color frontispiece and three inserted plates of illustrations. Previous owners name (in ink) to front endpaper, with Oswald Train bookplate to verso of same, dated 5/19/52; light external.....

    More info about Darkness and Dawn

  • United World: The Road to International Peace

    United World: The Road to International Peace

    NEARING, Scott

    Octavo (21.25cm); royal blue cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and front cover; blue topstain; dustjacket; xii,265,[3]pp. Spine ends gently nudged, topstain dulled, with some minor bubbling to cloth at covers; contents clean; Very Good+ or better. Dustjacket gently spine-sunned and lightly edgeworn, with a few tiny tape-mended.....

    More info about United World: The Road to International Peace

  • Sarastuksia

    Sarastuksia

    [FINNISH-AMERICANS] FINNISH FEDERATION

    Octavo (21cm.); publisher's cream pictorial card wrappers printed in green and yellow; 160pp. Extremities a bit toned and dusty, a few leaves dog-eared, else Very Good or better.

    More info about Sarastuksia

  • The Steam-Shovel Man

    The Steam-Shovel Man

    PAINE, Ralph D. (novel); ROSENMEYER, B.J. (illustrations)

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); orange cloth, with titles stamped in navy blue on spine and front panel; dustjacket; 212pp. Hint of sunning to spine, minor dust soil to upper board edges, with faint offsetting to endpapers and touch of foxing to right edge of textblock; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped.....

    More info about The Steam-Shovel Man

  • At Bay (Signed, Limited edition

    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.....

    More info about At Bay (Signed, Limited edition

  • Young West: A Sequel to Edward Bellamy's Celebrated Novel "Looking Backward"

    Young West: A Sequel to Edward Bellamy's Celebrated Novel "Looking Backward"

    SCHINDLER, Solomon

    Pale sea-green cloth, lettered in gilt on spine and front cover; 283pp; page edges and margins tinted yellow. Corner chip to front free endpaper, else a tight, clean copy, just lightly soiled on boards; Very Good or better.

    More info about Young West: A Sequel to Edward Bellamy's Celebrated Novel "Looking Backward"

  • Pirmoji Lietuvos Proletarine Revoliucija ir Sovietu Valdžia [The First Lithuanian...

    Pirmoji Lietuvos Proletarine Revoliucija ir Sovietu Valdžia [The First Lithuanian Proletarian Revolution...

    MICKEVI IUS- KAPSUKAS, V.

    Small octavo (19.5cm.); original purple printed wrappers; 240pp. Upper wrapper unevenly faded along fore-edge, spine a hint faded as well, else Very Good or better. At head of title: "Amerikos Lietuviu Darbininku Literaturos Draugijos Leidinys No. 38" (translates as "American Lithuanian Workers Literary Society Publication no. 38"). Author's name appears.....

    More info about Pirmoji Lietuvos Proletarine Revoliucija ir Sovietu Valdžia [The First Lithuanian...

  • Thirteen Poems by Wilfred Owen With Drawings by Ben Shahn

    Thirteen Poems by Wilfred Owen With Drawings by Ben Shahn

    OWEN, Wilfred. Ben SHAHN (illus)

    Folio (33cm). Original morocco-backed paper-covered boards in publisher's slipcase; unpaged [28pp]. No. 43 of 365 hand-numbered copies in the regular edition (there were also 35 copies with a signed proof). Frontispiece is a portrait of Wilfred Owen, drawn by Shahn and printed from a block by Leonard Baskin; text includes.....

    More info about Thirteen Poems by Wilfred Owen With Drawings by Ben Shahn

  • 100%: The Story of a Patriot

    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.....

    More info about 100%: The Story of a Patriot

  • Of Mice and Men: A Play in Three Acts

    Of Mice and Men: A Play in Three Acts

    STEINBECK, John

    First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); bound in oatmeal buckram, with titles and decoration stamped in black and brown on spine and front panel; gray topstain; dustjacket; 172pp. Some trivial offset to gutters from binders glue, topstain slightly dulled, else very Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped, spine-sunned, with a few tiny nicks.....

    More info about Of Mice and Men: A Play in Three Acts

  • Peace Is Where The Tempests Blow

    Peace Is Where The Tempests Blow

    [KATAEV, Valentine

    Octavo. Green cloth; dustjacket; 341pp. Bright, Near Fine copy with deep blue topstain. In the scarce dustwrapper, lightly worn at extremities, a bit faded on spine (still perfectly legible); easily on the better side of Very Good.

    More info about Peace Is Where The Tempests Blow

  • The Outcast Poets. Number 8 of the Outcast Series of Chapbooks

    The Outcast Poets. Number 8 of the Outcast Series of Chapbooks

    WILLEFORD, Charles; Thomajan, P.K.; deFord, Miriam Allan; Anthony, Robert; Kaler, F.H.

    Quarto. Loose sheets in printed envelope, as issued. Small abrasion and pin-hole to envelope's upper extremity, else Fine. This is Willeford's first appearance in print, preceding his first book by more than a year. ('Entrance To An Era'; In Time of This'; 'I Passed Over the River'; 'Basement Pastoral' &.....

    More info about The Outcast Poets. Number 8 of the Outcast Series of Chapbooks

  • The Thirty-Six Trades of the State

    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).

    More info about The Thirty-Six Trades of the State

  • Russian Lyrics: Songs of Cossack, Lover, Patriot and Peasant, done into English verse

    Russian Lyrics: Songs of Cossack, Lover, Patriot and Peasant, done into English...

    BIANCHI, Martha Gilbert Dickinson, trans.

    12mo (19.25cm.); original red cloth, red printed paper label mounted to upper cover; [12],139pp. Some edge wear, small hole to spine cloth, else Very Good, internally near fine. Includes works by Pushkin, Tolstoy, Lermontov, and others, compiled and translated by Emily Dickinson's niece and editor.

    More info about Russian Lyrics: Songs of Cossack, Lover, Patriot and Peasant, done into English verse

  • On Call

    On Call

    ALGARÍN, Miguel; Geoffrey Biddle, photographs

    First printing. Octavo; pictorial card wrappers (softcover); 76pp. Inscribed by Algarín on half-title, to Mark: "To listen is to reveal what words intend, to read is to lift off the page what words sound and how they hit emotions," signed, undated. Covers slightly rubbed, with corners of wrappers rounded and.....

    More info about On Call

  • The Attitude of Anarchism Toward Industrial Combinations

    The Attitude of Anarchism Toward Industrial Combinations

    [ANARCHISM] TUCKER, Benjamin R.

    16mo (13.5cm). Printed card wrappers; 14pp. Fine, unread copy. Reprints an article originally published by Tucker in 1903; adds a 1-pp introduction by Labadie, concluding: "...it is with the expectation of stimulating interest in this remarkable libertarian's principle work [sic], Instead of a Book...that this modest pamphlet is printed."

    More info about The Attitude of Anarchism Toward Industrial Combinations

  • The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education

    The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education

    [SOCIALISM] [EDUCATION] SINCLAIR, Upton

    Four 12mo volumes (18cm), in uniform pictorial buff wrappers printed in black ink. Wrappers toned, lightly soiled; one with a small (1/4") closed chip near upper spine; Very Good. Lacking wrap-around outer jacket as described in Ahouse (never seen by us).

    More info about The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education

  • The Fourteenth Chronicle: The Letters and Diaries of John Dos Passos [Limited Edition, Signed

    The Fourteenth Chronicle: The Letters and Diaries of John Dos Passos [Limited...

    DOS PASSOS, John (letters); LUDINGTON, Townsend (editor)

    Limited Issue, one of 300 numbered copies specially bound and signed by the editor, this being copy no.38. Octavo (24cm); beige buckram, with gilt-stamped leather title labels mounted to spine and front cover; maroon topstain; dustjacket; publisher's original slipcase; xx,662,[2]pp; illus. Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, price-clipped, with some.....

    More info about The Fourteenth Chronicle: The Letters and Diaries of John Dos Passos [Limited Edition, Signed

  • Child of Capricorne

    Child of Capricorne

    SWIFT, Amelia

    Octavo. Black cloth boards; dustjacket; 79pp. Tight, Near Fine copy in lightly rubbed dustwrapper with a bit of foxing on lighter portions; Very Good.

    More info about Child of Capricorne

Not finding what you're looking for? Please visit our wants matching system.

  • Lorne Bair Rare Books
  • 661 Millwood Ave. Suite 206, Winchester, VA 22601 USA
  • Phone (540) 665-0855

© 2022 Lorne Bair Rare Books. All rights reserved. Privacy | Accessibility | Site Map | Site by Bibliopolis

Find on FacebookFollow on Instagram

I'd like to be notified of new arrivals in the following categories.

Check all categories that are of interest to you.