Scarves stained with the blood of 1984 author George
Orwell, are to be auctioned in London.
Orwell was
wearing the anti-fascist scarves when he was shot in the neck during a battle
near Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War in May 1937.
He described
the experience of being shot as "very interesting... roughly speaking it
was the sensation of being at the centre of an explosion".
The scarves are
expected fetch up to £1,200 when they are sold on 3 October.
Writing in his
Homage to Catalonia, Orwell's personal account of the war, he said he had been
"about 10 days at the front when it happened".
He continued:
"Webb, our stretcher-bearer, had brought a bandage and one of the little
bottles of alcohol they gave us for field-dressings. The doctor re-bandaged the
wound, gave me a shot of morphine, and sent me off."
The scarves
were saved by Hugh Patrick O'Hare, who treated Orwell in the aftermath of the
shooting and was a fellow member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP).
He, in turn,
passed them on to another member of the ILP.
Orwell's
experiences fighting fascists would shape his work, including the allegorical
Animal Farm and the nightmarish vision of totalitarianism in 1984.
Max Hasler, of
auctioneers Bloomsbury, said that Orwellian memorabilia was rare but "to
have something that relates to such a significant part of his life is
especially unusual".
"I think
it is a really interesting item. George Orwell was such a private person, very
few examples of his signatures and photographs exist."
Although Orwell
survived the neck wound, it ultimately contributed to his early death, at the
age of 46, in 1950.
Source: BBC
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