If I Were Dictator: Rare Book of the Week

Six volumes from the If I Were Dictator series come to auction next week in PBA Galleries' March 19 Americana-Travel & Exploration-World History-Maps & Views action

Published by Methuen in London in 1934 and 1935, it represents an important contribution to early 20th century utopian and alternate history literature, with covers and jackets illustrated by H.L. Cartairs. The authors - novelist Lord Dunsany, biologist Julian Huxley, novelist and dramatist St. John Ervine, soldier Lord Raglan, politician James Maxton, and and Dean of Canterbury H.R.L. Sheppard - were asked to write on "what attitude they would adopt towards current problems if a dictatorship were set up in England and they were placed in the position of supreme power."

All offered serious economic and social suggestions except Dunsany who subtitled his book "The Pronouncements of the Grand Macaroni".

This is a near-complete set, missing a volume by journalist and MP Vernon Bartlett. An anticipated volume by poet and essaysist Robert Lynd never appeared. It has an estimate of $500-$800.