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VESPA, AMLETO: : SECRET AGENT OF JAPAN - A Handbook to Japanese Imperialism. [LEFT BOOK CLUB edn.]

LONDON.VICTOR GOLLANCZ,1938.

ISBN No ISBN.

UK,slim 8vo HB minus dw/dj,1st edn.[The NATIONAL MUSEUM OF LABOUR HISTORY was originally based in Limehouse Town Hall, Tower Hamlets,London and re-opened in Manchester in 1990.The museums objective is to collect,preserve and interpret the material culture of the British Labour movement with archives and artifacts. Labour Party records offer a wide-ranging and important collections of 20thC British and world history.It includes administritative and policy-making documents of the party and also various collections of individuals and groups acquired by the party of the years,shedding light on other radical and socilaist movements.] VG-.No owner inscrptn per se, but interesting provenance of presence of a black circular,inked library stamp of the 'NATIONAL MUSEUM OF LABOUR HISTORY' (see above) to recto of front free endpaper's top,left-hand corner.Publisher’s original red paper-covered boards with black lettering and LBC logo (three capitals within single-line bordered square in black) to front board,black lettered panelled title at head of spine/backstrip, publisher's name to foot of same and the library/museum's black ink number 38 notation,also towards foot of same,rear panel plain undecorated and without text/ lettering, and clean sets of plain white endpapers; minimal shelf-wear,bumping, rubbing with reciprocal colour paper loss to edges and corners – but no major nicks, tears or splits present.All corner tips rubbed with minimal paper loss to same, miniscule bumping to both head+foot of spine/backstrip,paper-covered boards with age-related marks/blemishes and wear - front board's top,right-hand corner with small rectangular loss of paper colour due to an adhesive label's removal but title's lettering unaffected.Top edges aged/toned and dust-soiled but without foxing/ spotting,fore-edges much less aged/toned so slightly brighter,and also without foxing/ spotting; contents bright,tight,clean with minimal and narrow bands of page-edge toning,solid and sound - no foxing/spotting to text body - and no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - appears unread,other than my own collation.UK,slim 8vo HB minus dw/dj,1st edn,vi-xivpp+2-287pp [paginated] includes an introductory note by H.J. Timperley - China Correspondent of the manchester Guardian,contents list/ table,XIV (14) chapters and an Epilogue; plus [unpaginated] blank,publisher's advice for reading Left news supplement that comes with each Book Club choice,title page,and verso of last page,an advert for THE TRIBUNE [the militant Labour weekly newspaper (then),a democaratic socialist political magazine (now 2001),originally founded in 1937 and published in London. While it is independent,it has usually supported the Labour Party from the Left.] Visually the exterior appearance is acceptable for a book of it's age and nature,i.e. an ephemeral item,and even internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation.It is only the exterior faults described that prevent a higher grading. Amleto Vespa (b. 10th April,1884 – d. between 1941 and 1944) was an Italian mercenary and secret agent of Italian origin,born in L'Aquila,Azzurro,who worked in Manchuria from 1922 - 1940. First for a local warlord,Zhang Zoulin until the warlord's assassination in 1928.The Italian consulate in Tianjin had arrest and deportation orders issued for Vespa,who was accused of smuggling weapons and dealing in drugs on behalf of Zhang.To avoid arrest and deportation,he managed to obtain Chinese citizenship in 1924.After the Manchurian incident of 1931 - known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (Sept.,18th) - was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.On September 18, 1931,Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th Japanese Infantry Regiment detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway,near Mukden.The Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria,in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. [The deception was exposed by the Lytton Report of 1932,leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations.] Vespa fled Harbin just ahead of the Kempeitai secret police.His family was captured and eventually freed after Vespa agreed to work for the new Japanese rulers of Manchuria under the name "Commander Feng".A self-proclaimed fascist and an admirer of Benito Mussolini,Vespa had no admiration for the Japanese administration of Manchukuo,which he describes with considerable venom in this book published in London in October 1938,with the assistance of an Australian reporter.The book sold well. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** This item offered P+p included.Offer available UK only,unless indicated otherwise. ** ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,slim 8vo HB minus dw/dj, 1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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