MORAY, Alastair.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Diary of a Rum-Runner. First edition, first impression, in the scarce jacket, from the library of the publisher, Philip Bertram Murray Allan.The author was approached one day in his native Glasgow and invited to become a liquor smuggler onboard the schooner Cask. His narrative of a year's bootlegging describes the mutinous feeling of the crew, terrible weather, encounters with the long arm of the law and shady characters, and the intricate logistics of beating Prohibition.Moray's Diary was brought back into print in 2007 and is one of a number of resurfaced works offering "welcome relief from a recent wave of revisionist rotgut. The Drug Enforcement Administration's website proclaims that 'Prohibition did work' (the DEA's emphasis), while ignoring the ban's effect on violent crime... Did Prohibition prevent intoxication and lead to more righteous living somewhere in America? Probably. But not in New York City" (Kuhl).Allan (1884-1973) is known in the world of rare books for his The Book-Hunter at Home (1920), and his antiquarianism is celebrated in his bookplate on the front pastedown. Alongside his publishing and book collecting, he collected moths and wrote several books on the subject.

• Printing: first

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