The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844

London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, 1892. First UK edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. 8vo. [5], vi-xix, [2], 2-298, [2], [4] (pages of publisher's advertisements) pp. Full recent red morocco with a gilt border to each board, spine in six compartments with gold lettering and decorations. Marbled endpapers and pastedowns. With a preface written by Engels in the year of publication. Translated by Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky. The British Library, "The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 by Friedrich Engels". Draper E171. First published in Germany in 1848, Wischnewetzky translated this work into English in 1887, where it was first published in (truncated) the U.S. There was an unauthorized edition published in London in 1888 from the New York sheets, this is the first authorized U.K. edition. Published before the Communist Manifesto, Engels' treatise on industrialization and the class system in Manchester contains revolutionary ideas. It is a scathing criticism of the living conditions of factory workers, a powerful exposé on child labor, and a critique on the amount of power wealthy factory owners had in politics and in the cities. Engels was horrified by what he saw in Manchester. His observations there greatly influenced his ideal vision of what Europe's economic and social systems should be, in particular, how they should treat working people. (Inventory #: 000010696)