MACLAREN-ROSS, Julian (1912-64). The Stuff to Give the Troops. Twenty-five Tales of Army Life. London: Jonathan Cape, 1944. 8°. Half title (small stain to one leaf, a few light spots). Original red cloth, spine lettered in silver, dust-jacket (minor loss to head and foot of backstrip, small hole, a few nicks, edges lightly rubbed). Provenance: illegible signature on front free endpaper. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK.

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THE PROPERTY OF PETER APAP BOLOGNA JULIAN MACLAREN-ROSS Introduction Julian Maclaren-Ross was a literary prodigy of his time, but has been judged, so far, as having left behind a legacy of unfilled promise. He shares with Evelyn Waugh the distinction of having written the best stories of British Army life in the Second World War. His did not write just well, he wrote stylishly, and managed to construct his observations into an expressive literary form which reflected not only his compassion, but also his sense of humour and of the ironic. He was one of the best-read professional writers and critics of his time and, with another contemporary novelist (until recently also neglected) Henry Green, in the avant-garde of British writers and among the first to identify the 'proletarian school of writing'. He used this term in a lengthy review of the works of Henry Green, entitled 'A Poet of Fear', in the Christmas number of The Times Literary Supplement in 1948. Henry Green and Julian Maclaren-Ross were among the first professional writers to write about ordinary people, and were the precursors of Kingsley Amis, Alan Sillitoe, John Braine, David Storey and the other 'proletarian' writers and Angry Young Men of the 1950s and after. Unlike Waugh and Green, Julian Maclaren-Ross did not produce a body of major novels to ensure his position in the literary firmament, but, as was the case with Cyril Connolly - who discovered him - the judgement of 'unfulfilled promise' is not an accurate one for, like Connolly's, his contribution to English literature was substantial ... Peter Apap Bologna 6 August 2005

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MACLAREN-ROSS, Julian (1912-64). The Stuff to Give the Troops. Twenty-five Tales of Army Life. London: Jonathan Cape, 1944. 8°. Half title (small stain to one leaf, a few light spots). Original red cloth, spine lettered in silver, dust-jacket (minor loss to head and foot of backstrip, small hole, a few nicks, edges lightly rubbed). Provenance: illegible signature on front free endpaper. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK.

"This is the work for which Julian Maclaren-Ross is best known, admired by many, but dismissed by a few contemporary critics as not of great literary merit; but, then, not many critics approved of 'the proletarian school of writing.' The style of these stories is 'hard-boiled' and ironic, the result extremely funny. Julian's tribulations in the Army are also described in moving detail in a series of letters to Rupert Hart-Davis, who did his best to help, and who eventually published The Stuff to Give the Troops." (PAB)

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