Merrie England (Blatchford book)

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
  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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