ENGELS, Friedrich.

£37,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington

Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England. Nach eigner Anschauung und authentischen Quellen. First edition of this core text of Marxism, a closely observed study of the factories and slums of Victorian Manchester. Engels's father was a partner in a Manchester cotton plant: in his efforts to retain the young man in the family business he sent him to England from 1842 to 1844. There, he immersed himself in the working culture of Manchester, mixing with workers, meeting radical leaders, and even forming a relationship with an Irish working woman who would become his first wife. This in-depth research formed the core of Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England (The Condition of the Working Classes in England), which established Engels's fame in his native land but which was not published in English until 1887.

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