{"product_id":"wells-h-g-herbert-george-wells-1866-1946-autograph-card-signed-to-margaret-haig-thomas-2nd-viscountess-rhondda-concerning-a-womans-communist-party","title":"WELLS, H. G. (Herbert George Wells, 1866-1946). Autograph card signed to Margaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, concerning a \"Woman's Communist Party\".","description":"\u003cp class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWELLS, H. G. (Herbert George Wells, 1866-1946). Autograph card signed to Margaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, concerning a \"Woman's Communist Party\".\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn autograph correspondence card, written and signed by H. G. Wells in black ink, addressed to \u003cstrong\u003eMargaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda (1883-1958)\u003c\/strong\u003e. One side, approximately 88 x 114mm, on Wells's printed stationery headed \u003cstrong\u003e\"47, Chiltern Court, Clarence Gate, N.W.1.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e, with telephone number \u003cstrong\u003eWelbeck 5544\u003c\/strong\u003e. Dated \u003cstrong\u003e19 October 1932\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWells invites Lady Rhondda to tea eight days later, evidently to resume an intriguing political conversation begun at an earlier meeting:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Lady Rhondda\u003cbr\u003eCould you come \u0026amp; have tea\u003cbr\u003eon Oct 27th. 4.30. I want to talk\u003cbr\u003eabout that Woman's Communist Party\u003cbr\u003eyou wouldn't tell me about the other day.\u003cbr\u003eYours\u003cbr\u003eH. G. Wells\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA particularly engaging piece of unpublished correspondence between two prominent figures in interwar British political and intellectual life. Although internationally celebrated as the author of \u003cem\u003eThe Time Machine\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe War of the Worlds\u003c\/em\u003e and other pioneering works of scientific romance, Wells was also a prolific socialist writer and advocate of large-scale social and political reconstruction. The card was written in the year in which he published \u003cem\u003eThe Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind\u003c\/em\u003e, an extensive survey of contemporary society and the prospects for a rationally organised future.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLady Rhondda was a former militant suffragette, businesswoman, feminist campaigner and proprietor and editor of the influential weekly review \u003cem\u003eTime and Tide\u003c\/em\u003e. She founded the Six Point Group in 1921 and remained one of the foremost British advocates of women's legal, professional and economic equality between the wars. \u003cem\u003eTime and Tide\u003c\/em\u003e combined discussion of women's rights with politics, economics, literature and international affairs and provided a forum for contributors of differing political persuasions. \u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two were already engaged in a direct debate about women and society during 1932. Lady Rhondda had written to Wells on \u003cstrong\u003e29 July 1932\u003c\/strong\u003e concerning his treatment of women in \u003cem\u003eThe Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind\u003c\/em\u003e; further correspondence from her followed in March 1933. These letters survive among the Wells papers at the University of Illinois, whose substantial archive contains more than 65,000 letters received by Wells as well as diaries, manuscripts and other papers. \u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e The present card therefore belongs within an identifiable and continuing intellectual exchange rather than representing a merely conventional social invitation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe precise identity of the \u003cstrong\u003e\"Woman's Communist Party\"\u003c\/strong\u003e has not been established. Wells's use of \u003cstrong\u003e\"that\"\u003c\/strong\u003e and his remark that Lady Rhondda \u003cstrong\u003e\"wouldn't tell\"\u003c\/strong\u003e him about it show that the subject had been introduced during a previous private conversation and had sufficiently aroused his curiosity for him to arrange a further meeting devoted to it. The wording need not represent the official title of a national political party: it might refer to a local group, an informal women's communist network, a projected organisation or a private shorthand already understood by the correspondents. Women's communist organisations using this or closely related terminology are historically recorded in Britain, so the phrase should not be dismissed as necessarily imaginary or humorous; however, no evidence presently connects this particular reference securely with any one organisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe date is especially suggestive. The card was written on \u003cstrong\u003e19 October\u003c\/strong\u003e, inviting Lady Rhondda to Wells's home for tea at \u003cstrong\u003e4.30 p.m. on 27 October 1932\u003c\/strong\u003e. The emphatic purpose—\u003cem\u003e\"I want to talk about...\"\u003c\/em\u003e—and the lightly teasing wording provide a vivid glimpse of the private political discussions taking place around Lady Rhondda and the editorial circle of \u003cem\u003eTime and Tide\u003c\/em\u003e during the Depression. It may relate to information obtained through her feminist, journalistic or political contacts, but the available evidence does not justify identifying the subject more precisely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn appealing and unusually substantive H. G. Wells autograph, combining a complete signed message with a distinctive political reference and documenting his continuing exchange with one of the most influential British feminist editors of the interwar period.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lanna Antique","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55992903008641,"sku":"LAN10340","price":750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/0351\/9943\/files\/WELLS_H.G._HerbertGeorgeWells_1866-1946_.AutographcardsignedtoMargaretHaigThomas_2ndViscountessRhondda_concerninga_Woman_sCommunistParty_.s-l1600.webp?v=1787234784","url":"https:\/\/www.lannaantique.com\/products\/wells-h-g-herbert-george-wells-1866-1946-autograph-card-signed-to-margaret-haig-thomas-2nd-viscountess-rhondda-concerning-a-womans-communist-party","provider":"Lanna Antique","version":"1.0","type":"link"}