£120
FIRST EDITION, NEIL GUNN’S COPY, 8vo, pp. 192. Original quarter blue cloth, patterned orange and grey paper boards, paper label printed in blue to spine. A touch of spotting to edges. Binding a little rubbed. Ink ownership inscription of ‘N.M. Gunn’ to front flyleaf with later corroborating note, and ownership inscription of Colin MacDonald to front pastedown.
The scarce sole edition of this radio play by writer and Liberal politician Reginald Berkeley (1890-1935), which was originally commissioned by the BBC for public broadcast but never saw production. Berkeley wrote for the stage, and began writing 'for the microphone' with The Dweller in the Darkness, first broadcast by the BBC in April 1925. Berkeley decided to publish Machines when he received a letter from the BBC rejecting the script as 'far too controversial for purposes of broadcasting', and he includes his entire correspondence with two representatives of the BBC. Here Berkeley argues that his play is deemed controversial for the fact that 'it does not happen to glorify Conservatives at the expense of working people'.
This copy belonged to Scottish novelist Neil M. Gunn (1891-1973), with his ownership inscription on the front flyleaf, and a later ownership inscription confirming 'from Gunn's library', dated 12/1/83.
