Merrie England (Blatchford book)

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Merrie England is an influential collection of essays on socialism by Robert Blatchford under the pseudonym "Nunquam", published in 1893. The first issue by Nunquam was priced at one shilling.[1] It sold over two million copies worldwide.[2] It was said that for every one convert to socialism made by Karl Marx's Das Kapital there were a hundred converts made by “Merrie England” – though even this may be an underestimate.[3]

Merrie England
Author"Nunquam", pseudonym of
Robert Blatchford
Publication date
1893

The book received rebuttals including:

  • R. Nemo, Labour and Luxury: A Reply to 'Merrie England' London: Walter Scott, 1895
  • Robert Roberts, England's Ruin, Or John Smith's Answer to Mr. Blatchford's Plea for Socialism 1895[4]

References

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  1. ^ original cover
  2. ^ Oxford Companion to English Literature; edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2006, (p. 109).
  3. ^ Gregory Claeys - Imperial Sceptics: British Critics of Empire, 1850–1920 ISBN 1139492551 2010; p. 173 "Blatchford's popularity – from which his proximity to the heart of the labour movement might be inferred – is undisputed. ... his rise was meteoric.175 His best-selling Merrie England (1893) sold more than a million copies; it was said that 'for every convert made by “Das Kapital,” there were a hundred made by “Merrie England”'; the actual ratio was probably nearer one to..."
  4. ^ Jason D Martinek Socialism and Print Culture in America, 1897–1920 1317320778 2015 p156 R. Nemo, Labour and Luxury: A Reply to 'Merrie England' (London: Walter Scott, 1895), pp. 90–1. 71. Ibid., p. 183. 72. Ibid., p. 190. 73. R. Roberts, England's Ruin, Or John Smith's Answer to Mr. Blatchford's Plea for Socialism, vol. 2 (London: ...
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