In anticipation of the Economic Consequences of the Peace
Centenary Conference on September 9th and 10th, 2019, the Marshall Library is
releasing a series of blog posts on the publication of Keynes’ book. The first
in this series focuses on the early publication history of The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
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The first print run of The
Economic Consequences of the Peace hit London at the end of 1919.
Within
six weeks Keynes was working with American publisher Alfred Harcourt of
Harcourt, Brace and Howe Inc. on an American edition. In a letter from Keynes
to Harcourt on the 29th of January 1920, Keynes explains the unanticipated
enormity of the response to his work. By this point, 8,000 copies had been sold
in England and 15,000 had been printed in all. Internationally, there was a
‘strong demand’ for the translation rights in ‘French, Italian, German, Dutch,
Hungarian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, and Russian.’[1]
Given the response to his work, Keynes was writing to express his regret at not
making the first American print run larger than the planned 4,000 copies.
Keynes was certainly right about the American market. His
royalty statements for the first six months of American publication reveal
incredible success. By the 30th of June, 38,403 copies had been sold in
America. In terms of royalties, Keynes earned $16,401.31.[2]
His publisher, Alfred Harcourt, clearly anticipated the continuation of this
success; in a letter on May 5th, 1920 Harcourt informs Keynes that they just
had another 50,000 printed with 4,000 bound initially.[3]
While not as robust in terms of total copies as the
publication’s American success, the work continued to do exceedingly well in
England. Within weeks of the book’s publication, friends, organizations, and
strangers were writing to Keynes asking him to publish a cheaper edition of the
work. On January 16, 1920 the secretary of the Women’s International League,
K.E. Royds, wrote to Keynes asking him to ‘arrange to have a cheap edition […]
brought out at the earliest possible moment.’[4]
Thomas F. Tweed of the Manchester Liberal Federation wrote asking for a cheaper
and shortened edition. On January 27, 1920 he wrote:
‘It is fair to assume that you
wrote the book with a more or less propaganda purpose. Its price, however,
makes the matter of popular circulation almost prohibitive, and I am instructed
in this first instance, in quite an informal way, to suggest to you the writing
of an abridged version of the “Economic Consequences” which might be about half
its length and published at a popular price.’[5]
Others, such as Archibald Rowntree, wrote offering to help
finance a cheaper edition, saying that if ‘any help is needed by way of
guarantee in order to get it at a really low price, I think two or three of us
here would be only too glad to help in this way.’[6]
Harold Storey of the Liberal Publication Department similarly offered financial
assistance should it be necessary, explaining that ‘Many of us regard your book
as so much the mouthpiece of a great cause, that I do not think there would be
any difficulty in spending money in order to get it quickly before a larger
public.’[7]
On the subject of a cheaper edition, Keynes eventually
worked with G.D.H. Cole of the Labour Research Department to release a special
cheaper edition of 10,000 copies. By September 1st of 1920, there remained only
170 copies of the 10,000 unsold.[8] A
photograph of the Marshall Library’s copy from this edition is below. The book
is on display at the entrance of the Marshall Library for the next few months
for those interested in a closer look.
Within a year of publication, the spread of Keynes’ work was
so broad that he had to cancel plans for 2,000 copies of a Czech translated
edition. At this time, the spread of the German edition throughout
Czechoslovakia made it unprofitable to translate further.[9]
Clearly, neither Keynes nor his publishers predicted this work’s universal
popularity.
It is important to keep in mind that these publication
figures give just a glimmer of the work’s popularity; for every book sold it is
impossible to say how many times it was read and passed between individuals.
While the publication figures certainly tell a story of the work’s
unanticipated popularity, the reasons for and nature of that popularity cannot
been seen in these figures. Future blog posts will begin to address just this.
Special thanks to the Archive Centre and King’s College,
Cambridge for use of and help with their collection of Keynes’ correspondence.
