Autograph Letter Signed. on his blind embossed, Spade House, stationery. 4 pages. 8vo. Sandgate, April 24, 1907.
WELLS, H.G (1866-1946). English author, journalist and historian.
To ŅComradeÉI canÕt do any work in the way of setting up local branches of the socialist organizations here & I canÕt promise to do anything at Tunbridge Wells. But if youÕll keep me advised as to that festival IÕll bear it in mind & turn up if I can. You see, IÕve got to slip this public address & organization side of the Socialist propaganda for the simple reason that it cuts my other work (which I have the vanity to think I do better) to ribbons. IÕm a bad speaker, a hot tempered, uncertain man in a committee & afterwards I brood on the messes I have made & the quarrells (sic) I have started. IÕve had a very educational year in the Fabian Society in these matters. I donÕt regret the time & temper IÕve spent, I think itÕs given the movement a shove, but itÕs also taught me my very definite limitations. I donÕt know any Socialists in this place except a few of the drawing room kind. My wife has made some tentatives for a Fabian group here, but most of the people here of that sort are season-ticket holders & belong to London groups. There used to be an energetic little carpenter here & a shoemaker but oneÕs gone north & the other IÕve not seen for some time. They failed to get anything together two years ago when they tried. The Clarion sells down here. God knows who buys it! I see Justice & The Clarion & The Leader weeklyÉ.Ó Signed, ŅH. G. Wells.Ó (Item ID: 1506)
$1,850.00
Wells was remarkable for his foresight and imagination in such famous works as The Time Machine and The Invisible Man. In addition to this writing, WellsÕ was deeply concerned about societyÕs future, an interest that led him to seek answers from such political groups as the Fabian Society, co-founded by economist Sydney J. Webb. WellsÕ Fabian address ŌSocialism and the Middle Classes,Õ delivered in 1906, earned him favor with the Fabian Society. However, Ņin politics, as in his social relationships, Wells was impatient, irascible, and unpredictable. He flounced in and out of party Socialism. He was the enfant terrible of the early Fabians who were nevertheless stimulated, if exasperated, by his clash with [English author and Fabian George Bernard] Shaw and the Webbs. Realizing that the leadership would not come his way, he resigned in 1908, This letter, written the year before his resignation, demonstrates WellsÕ reluctance to further commit to the society and alludes to his disagreements with its members. In very good condition. A good political letter.
