Ronald Searle: Co-Operation in a University Town

Co-Operation in a University Town by W. Henry Brown is a 1939 book subtitled "With the Seventy Years' Record of the Cambridge & District Co-Operative Society, Limited." It is a volume that I, for one, have no desire to read, but its claim to fame is that it is the first book to be illustrated by Ronald Searle, then 19 and unknown except to readers of the Cambridge Daily News. After World War II, Searle would emerge as an illustrator of singular importance, but there's little in this history that would have allowed readers interested in the Cambridge Co-Operative Society to foretell that.

The eBay seller of this book last month was evidently unaware of its special significance in the history of illustration and let it go for a song.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing ended August 24, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296648319344?_nkw=Co-Operation+in+a+University+TOwn&itmmeta=01J635EKF5TB5HE43MB3M3FSQC&hash=item45119e2170:g:nFgAAOSwGZBmtjIj&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmTg7F9JjRFopqm100riI9JTcjiLj158naowMqYjPPTbmaFOczYEO7LcTgy5GyOBadq2e2o69dfUeSRKisuB

4Jqf9hBWpDFcXNnsTcv%2BamoDFOWlbxqRs8zehAQ3nSSFmPk%2BPdlZ4mnvTILtFIFqvIN7VSc5Ax%2BYuJ%2B9N98GS5MHDkaTtKUc8OhT5FxVlCBxKK9a708kLKYM1RPak340h3CQPNFrhrQHQma%2BT2PJV%2FeN%2BbmWuLS5EE1ukPlW7LZGWuJ9Ab6512PjY8bgCOaUZ3A%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8y3uuWwZA

Another copy is more typical of how booksellers treat this rarity, pricewise, but it does include the dust cover with its Searle illustration:

04735