Signed
Konyetz
Inscribed rare dystopia, 1924
Konyetz (1924) is a dystopian future-war novel written by British politician and author Oliver Ridsdale Baldwin under the pseudonym Martin Hussingtree. Baldwin, the son of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, enlisted late in the First World War and served with distinction, earning promotion to lieutenant. After the war he worked as a journalist and traveler and was imprisoned during a Bolshevik-backed revolt in newly independent Armenia. Released when democracy was briefly restored, he was arrested again by Turkish authorities on suspicion of espionage and held for months in harsh conditions. These experiences deepened his commitment to socialism, and in 1924 he published both Konyetz and Six Prisons and Two Revolutions, the latter a memoir of his captivity.
The title is Russian for “the end,” and the novel imagines precisely that: the collapse of civilization through plague and global war. A military alliance of Soviets, Germans, and Turks overruns continental Europe, while Japan seizes Australia. Britain remains outside the conflict, clinging to strict neutrality and showing little interest in halting Bolshevik expansion, particularly as the British Communist Party stirs class revolt against the bourgeoisie and capitalist elite.
As war draws nearer, the world itself begins to fall apart. A renewed outbreak of the Black Plague spreads across Europe, and heavy rains with biblical overtones hint that Judgment Day is approaching. The tone shifts between political satire and religious apocalypse, at times even staging conversations between the Four Horsemen.
At the center of the novel is the Russian-born Ogóne, a political and spiritual thinker living with his Reverend uncle and cousin Lorna. He is deeply religious, though his faith is personal and shaped by his own interpretation rather than scripture. Convinced that the end of civilization is near, he nevertheless tries to rally the British people to resist the impending Bolshevik invasion. After speaking at a rally, he is arrested for seditious speech and later released. A subdued romance develops between him and Lorna, though neither speaks openly of love or marriage until it is far too late.
Konyetz is an unusual blend of future-war fiction, political satire, and religious apocalypse, strange, dark, and often sharply humorous. One passage near the end captures the tone: "The British Communist party that had rushed to welcome the invaders with large red banners were unfortunately stampeded by an unbrotherly gas-shell which dispersed the gallant body by death and flight."
Inscribed copy. Inscribed by the author on the front endpaper: "Geoffrey Taylor / who if he were only less / afraid of himself would / prevent others from being / so afraid of him. / O. R. Baldwin / Martin Hussingtree."
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, black cloth boards stamped in red on front panel and the spine. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1924]. #11357.
Nicks to the cloth at spine ends, most noticeable at the top. Overall, still a very good copy with some dust soiling on the top page edges.
The title is Russian for “the end,” and the novel imagines precisely that: the collapse of civilization through plague and global war. A military alliance of Soviets, Germans, and Turks overruns continental Europe, while Japan seizes Australia. Britain remains outside the conflict, clinging to strict neutrality and showing little interest in halting Bolshevik expansion, particularly as the British Communist Party stirs class revolt against the bourgeoisie and capitalist elite.
As war draws nearer, the world itself begins to fall apart. A renewed outbreak of the Black Plague spreads across Europe, and heavy rains with biblical overtones hint that Judgment Day is approaching. The tone shifts between political satire and religious apocalypse, at times even staging conversations between the Four Horsemen.
At the center of the novel is the Russian-born Ogóne, a political and spiritual thinker living with his Reverend uncle and cousin Lorna. He is deeply religious, though his faith is personal and shaped by his own interpretation rather than scripture. Convinced that the end of civilization is near, he nevertheless tries to rally the British people to resist the impending Bolshevik invasion. After speaking at a rally, he is arrested for seditious speech and later released. A subdued romance develops between him and Lorna, though neither speaks openly of love or marriage until it is far too late.
Konyetz is an unusual blend of future-war fiction, political satire, and religious apocalypse, strange, dark, and often sharply humorous. One passage near the end captures the tone: "The British Communist party that had rushed to welcome the invaders with large red banners were unfortunately stampeded by an unbrotherly gas-shell which dispersed the gallant body by death and flight."
Inscribed copy. Inscribed by the author on the front endpaper: "Geoffrey Taylor / who if he were only less / afraid of himself would / prevent others from being / so afraid of him. / O. R. Baldwin / Martin Hussingtree."
Hardcover. First Edition. Octavo, black cloth boards stamped in red on front panel and the spine. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1924]. #11357.
Nicks to the cloth at spine ends, most noticeable at the top. Overall, still a very good copy with some dust soiling on the top page edges.