Lewis (Wyndham) Doom of Youth [2 copies], first English edition, the Waugh vs. Lewis court case copies, each annotated by Lewis or Waugh's lawyers for evidence in the case, Lewis' copy with a note in the author's hand, Waugh's copy with 2 A.L.s from the author to his lawyer, thanking him for the outcome of lawsuit, loosely inserted, this copy with judicial stamps and marking to front free endpapers, both with endpapers lightly browned, light spotting to first few pages, original cloth, browned, lightly rubbed to extremities, [Morrrow & Lafourcade A15b], 8vo, Chatto & Windus, 1932.

⁂ A superb set of association copies used as evidence in the libel suit of Alec Waugh vs. Wyndham Lewis.

Lewis began Doom of Youth as a series of articles examining and criticising the burgeoning cult of youth and "youth politics" in 1920s England. Recalling Waugh's The Loom of Youth (1917), Lewis satirically attacks the work's conjectures, but further intimates that Waugh's interest in schoolboys was because of homosexual proclivities, so provoking a libel case between the writers.

The suit was successfully settled by Waugh in March 1932, and Lewis's publisher Chatto & Windus withdrew the run of 1518 copies, and pulping around 550 to avoid further legal action. Lewis, upset with their compliance, did not collaborate with Chatto again, and the case marks the beginning of many other similar disputes that Lewis would face over the following years.

The Lewis copy has extensive marginal scoring and marking up in pencil on over 24pp., including a note by him at the head of the chapter 'A Vast Communal Nursery', reading "is there anything in the chapter dealing with Mr Waugh [to say that he's either (excised)] remotely to suggest that he is 1., 2. or 3.?", with the numbers referring to highlighted sentences of the text: "the homosexual is, of course, an imitation-women"; "the desired must be young"; "as a recognised and practicing pathic". Lewis's lawyer also annotates the pages in pencil, shaping their defence that his work is generalised, rather than an attack on Waugh as an individual.

The Waugh copy was similarly used by his counsel as evidence against Lewis, with similar pencil underlining on the offending passages. This copy with two ALs from Waugh to his lawyer, one with a facetious remark to the allegations - "what Lewis would call my thwarted maternal impulses in full spate".

The copies mark not only an important juncture in literary libel lawsuits, but also evidence a rising tide of gay rights in the literary and legal fields of 1930s England.