Bars and Shadows. Prison Poems of Ralph Chaplin.
New York: The Leonard Press, 1922.
12mo, 48 pp. Photographic portrait frontis. Printed paper-wrapped boards. Light wear and spotting to boards; very good. Inscribed by Bruce Rogers on recto of frontispiece.
§ A collection of poetry written by labor organizer and Wobbly Ralph Chaplin while serving four years of a 20-year sentence for conspiring to hinder the draft and encourage desertion during the First World War. This copy has been inscribed to a friend by the book designer Bruce Rogers. In 1917 Chaplin was one of around 100 Wobblies rounded up, tried and convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was imprisoned first in Cook County Jail and later in Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. He is credited with writing the words to the trade union anthem "Solidarity Forever" and for designing the black cat image adopted as a symbol by anarcho-syndicalists. Item #126629
Price: $275.00