London: Horizon, 1946

8vo, pp. 221-288, bound in printed stiff paper wrappers. 4pp. advertisements bound in to front. 4pp. b&w illustrations. A little marking to leading edge and a little light edgewear, but a very good copy.

Issue no. 76 of Horizon, containing the first appearance of George Orwell’s landmark essay Politics and the English Language.

In 1939, T.S. Eliot's Criterion closed, storm clouds gathered over Europe, war was declared.....and Cyril Connolly decided it was the perfect time to launch a high-brow literary magazine. Co-edited by Stephen Spender, bankrolled by Peter Watson, and shaking a defiant fist at the prevailing barbarism, Horizon ran for ten years and published work from an epic cast of mid-twentieth century literary figures, established names and coming men and women alike. It also covered the visual arts in uncommon depth, published Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One complete in a single issue, and provided the backdrop for the marriage of regular contributor George Orwell to Sonia Brownell, Connolly's assistant, and later a fierce defender of her late husband's estate.