George Orwell
“Down and Out in Paris and London”

With an Introduction by Dervla Murphy and ‘A Note on the Text’ by Peter Davison.

Lewis, Mackenzie, Priestley:

‘A tour of the underworld, conducted without hysteria or prejudice... The facts he reveals should shake the complacency of twentieth-century civilaztion if anything could; they are sensational yet presented without sensationalism’ — C. Day Lewis

‘It is the white-hot reaction of a sensitive, observant, compassionate young man to poverty, injustice and the callousness of the rich,’ writes Dervla Murphy, introducing Orwell's record of a period in the late Twenties when he lived among the tramps, dregs and plongeurs of London and Paris. ‘It offers insights rather than solutions; but always insights have to precede solutions ... No one has ever claimed Down and Out is its author's best book, yet many of his admires describe it as their favourite Orwell. Its flaws are numerous, but oddly endearing.’

‘Written with so much simple force ... the result is curiously beautiful’ — Compton Mackenzie

‘An excellent book and a valuable social document’ — J. B. Priestley

THE AUTORITATIVE TEXT