Merrie England is an influential collection of essays on socialism by Robert Blatchford under the pseudonym "Nunquam", published in 1893. The first issue by Nunquam was priced at one shilling.original cover It sold over two million copies worldwide.Oxford Companion to English Literature; edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2006, (p. 109).
According to Gregory Claeys, "it was said that 'for every convert made by Das Kapital there were a hundred made by Merrie England; the actual ratio was probably nearer one to a thousand."Gregory Claeys - Imperial Sceptics: British Critics of Empire, 1850–1920 2010; p. 173 "Blatchford's popularity – from which his proximity to the heart of the labour movement might be inferred – is undisputed. ... his rise was meteoric.175 His best-selling Merrie England (1893) sold more than a million copies; it was said that 'for every convert made by "Das Kapital," there were a hundred made by "Merrie England; the actual ratio was probably nearer one to a thousand."
The book received rebuttals including: R. Nemo, Labour and Luxury: A Reply to 'Merrie England London: Walter Scott, 1895 Robert Roberts, England's Ruin, Or John Smith's Answer to Mr. Blatchford's Plea for Socialism 1895Jason D Martinek Socialism and Print Culture in America, 1897–1920 1317320778 2015 p156 R. Nemo, Labour and Luxury: A Reply to 'Merrie England' (London: Walter Scott, 1895), pp. 90–1. 71. Ibid., p. 183. 72. Ibid., p. 190. 73. R. Roberts, England's Ruin, Or John Smith's Answer to Mr. Blatchford's Plea for Socialism, vol. 2 (London: ...
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