The Masses - Vol.VIII, No.6 (April, 1916)

Slim quarto (34.5cm); original pictorial wrappers, stapled; 32pp; illus. Wrappers separated and neatly detached along the spine-fold, some toning, a few shallow losses, and a few faint spots of soil to extremities; contents clean, complete; Very Good. An early issue of this innovative bohemian-socialist magazine, conceived by Dutch socialist immigrant Piet Vlag in 1911. "Nothing like it had ever been seen in America before. It was an arts and letters magazine that thoroughly embraced a political agenda of radical reform and pacifism. And it managed to do this, unlike all of its predecessors in the field of political thought and opinion, with wit and style. The result was then and remains today a joy to behold, an ever-evolving experiment in publishing and a supremely entertaining intellectual high-wire act" (West, Richard. The Masses Index, 1911-1917, p.5). The contents of the magazine were a mixture of literature and poetry, political reportage, coverage of world events, artwork, political cartoons, and articles on social reform and suffrage. This issue includes contributions by John Reed, Louis Untermeyer, Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Seymour Bernard, Mary Aldis, Frank Tanenbaum, and others. Illustrations throughout by Boardman Robinson, Art Young, John Barber, K.R. Chamberlain, Maurice Becker, H. Smtih, Ilonka Karasz, Stuart Davis, and Mell Daniel, et al. Cover art by Frank Walts. …