Mao’s Quotations on the Market

by Robin McGregor

the bright red book

 Sixty and a half years ago, in May 1964 to be precise, the first edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao, otherwise known as the “Little Red Book” was first published. 
 This weekend a collection of some 200 editions and related material such as a set of printer’s stereotypes used to print the first edition in English is being sold by Peter Harrington, one of London’s grandest antiquarian booksellers at a book fair in Hong Kong.  
 A brief, but well-illustrated catalogue (on which these notes are based) can be downloaded from https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog. It carries the note “Price on Application” which means “Don’t even think about it”, but readers can spend an agreeable leisure hour learning about its publication history in China and beyond for free. 
 It was first issued by the General Political Headquarters of the Chinese People’s Liberation
Army (PLA), intended as a basic instruction manual for the political instruction of the army’s rank and file who had only obtained their liberation in 1949. 
 It was published many times in print runs of millions and frequently translated becoming something of an icon of 1960s radicalism. Like all icons it was more admired than understood in detail, particularly by foreigners. In China, the book unfortunately became seen by many as the entire body of Marxism rather than the basic starting point it was intended to be.
  Best known in its red vinyl 320-page 33-chapter pocket sized version, the book went through many changes in arrangement, binding and text with authorised and unauthorised editions from friend and foes. Parodies such as Chairman Blair’s Little Red Book (with an aptly blue cover) appeared in 2001 and the Little Red Book of Corbyn Jokes came out in 2017 to say nothing of the 2010 Little Red Book of Liverpool FC. 
 Experimental collections first saw the light of day in 1960 when the PLA issued a Quotations from Mao Zedong’s Philosophical Thought on the poor paper available at the time. The first version of the now famous work publicly appeared in a four million print run for army battalions but were soon in demand by civilian institutions. 
 The first edition appeared in a variety of bindings including wrappers and brown or red vinyl which both had small variations which delight bibliophiles.  
 The first edition had an introduction by Mao’s deputy, Lin Biao, (with a small but telling calligraphic fault) which was of course soon corrected and finally removed after his 1971 sacking. 
 For speed and economy they were printed by stereotype, solid plates of type metal cast from papier-mâché moulds taken from the surface of the type setting. This made large print runs of the first edition possible, but also ensured small errors appeared in large numbers. 
 Provincial governments and individual parts of the PLA produced their own versions. Among many others, in Inner Mongolia, a larger format was produced.  
 A second edition, with substantial revisions appeared in March 1965 from the press of the 
Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee with some additions and cuts. A third, expanded edition, promoted by Lin Biao appeared a year later. 
 By then an estimated 28 million had been issued, some in large-format versions. The variations often show important political changes with excerpts mentioning out of favour individuals removed.   
 In April 1966, national party leadership took it over with a claimed 240 million copies by late 1966. A bilingual Chinese-English version appeared along with editions in many of the minority languages of China, and in Braille. 
 By 1972 10 million copies of translations had been produced by the Foreign Languages Press. These include an Albanian edition from 1967, three English editions between 1966 and 1972. An Esperanto version appeared in 1967 and a Danish one in 1970. Abroad unauthorised versions appeared, including one helpfully entitled Quotations From Chairman Mao-Tse-Tung. Danger! This Book is Communist Propaganda! From the Voice of Americanism publisher in California.  
 In China, modern reprints are sold to the tourists at prices greatly below that which Harrington expects. Apart from this collection Harrington is presently offering a first edition of the Quotations for £13,750, but readers with a more limited budget can buy a Mongolian edition for a mere £225.