Highlights of the collection include:
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First editions of key economic and political texts, including Robert Filmer's Patriarcha or, The natural power of kings, 1680, John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, 1689, Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776; Thomas Malthus' Essay on the Principle of Population, 1798; David Ricardo's On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 1817; and JS Mill's On Liberty, 1859.
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Radical periodicals from 1820s-1970s, including titles from Europe and USA.
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Radical political pamphlets and tracts by a variety of authors, including Thomas Spence and Robert Owen.
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Printed ephemera, including minutes of the Coefficients Dining Club, 1902-1908; 19th century election broadsides; and 19th century railway guides.
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Bound volumes of archive material, including minutes of the Labour Representation League, 1873-1878; George Bernard Shaw's personal diaries, 1885-1897; typescript transcripts of correspondence between the MPs Thomas Thornely and CP Villiers, 1835-1861; the manuscript of Edward Pease's History of the Fabian Society; and account books of the merchants Smalley and Co, 1697-1729.
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Association copies and annotated volumes, including items inscribed by Ramsay Macdonald and a copy of E Sylvia Pankhurst's autobiography inscribed by Pankhurst to Bertrand Russell; volumes annotated by Harold Laski, Thomas Henry Buckle, George Howell and Henry Hunt Hutchinson; and items from the libraries of Graham Wallas and John Ruskin.
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The collection is rich in utilitarian bindings, especially French and German paper bindings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many are in excellent condition.