Welcome to the Kate Sharpley Library

The Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserve and promote anarchist history. (More information.)

Everything at the Kate Sharpley Library - acquisitions, cataloguing, preservation work, publishing, answering enquiries is done by volunteers: we get no money from governments or the business community. All our running costs are met by donations from members of the collective, subscribers and supporters, or by the small income we make through publishing. Please consider donating and subscribing.

We also try to promote the history of anarchism by publishing studies based on those materials - or reprints of original documents taken from our collection. Check out our books and pamphlets available for sale or explore our online documents or browse back issues of our Bulletin.

Our physical library (in California) includes books, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts and ephemera documenting the history of anarchist movements. Contact us to arrange a visit.

Recent news

October 2016 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 88, October 2016 has just been posted on our site. The PDF is up at: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/47d8zs

Contents:
Bob McGlynn: New York Anarchist. http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/m90767
Greetings compañero for you are going by Bernabé García Polanco. http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/pc87r1
The dossier of subject no.1218 : a Bulgarian anarchist’s story by Alexander Nakov [Review]. http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/pk0qmv
Graphic dreams of Utopia [Book review of The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia] by Richard Warren. http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/b8gvrk
Ruth Kinna “Kropotkin: Reviewing The Classical Anarchist Tradition” [Book review] by Barry Pateman. http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/zkh318
Library (book) news (October 2016). http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fj6rgm

London Anarchist Bookfair 2016

This year’s London Anarchist Bookfair will be on Saturday 29th October and will run from 10am to 7pm.
Venue: Park View School, West Green Road, N15 3QR
Rail/Tube: Seven Sisters (National Rail or Victoria Line) / Turnpike Lane (Picadilly Line)
Buses: 41:, 67, 230, 341 (get off at stop near junction of Black Boy Lane and West Green Road).
Access: Full disabled access
Children: Creche (2yrs-8yrs) and older kids space (8 yrs upwards)

As always, more details about what's on closer to the time at http://www.anarchistbookfair.org.uk/

May 2016 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library 86-87, May 2016 [Double issue] has just been posted on our site. The PDF is up at: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/j0zqs9

When Albert died (personal recollections) by John Patten http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/15dw2j
To Spread the Revolution: Anarchist Archives and Libraries by Jessica Moran http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/7sqwg0
What? Anarchists in Egypt! [Before 1916] by Costantino Paonessa http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/05qgtk
The Princetown escapee by Nick Heath http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/g4f63f
Credit/ extras http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/tdz1xb
Natan Futerfas (photo and brief notes) http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/1zcsk6

March 2016 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 85, March 2016 has just been posted on our site. The PDF is up at: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/bnzthf

Contents:
Thoughts on anarchism, academia and history by Professor Yaffle (With Richard Warren cartoons) http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/xpnxkx
The Anarchist Expropriators by Osvaldo Bayer [Review] http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/83bm8c
The Lessons of History by Albert Meltzer http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/dncm2p
Solidarity and Silence: the story of Ona Šimaitė, librarian lifesaver [Review] by Marc Record http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/mcvg27
Johnny come home: a review by John Barker http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/wpzj9x
Living Anarchism: José Peirats and the Spanish Anarcho-Syndicalist Movement by Chris Ealham [Review] by Stan Brook http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/7wm4dh
Library News [February 2016] http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/qz62mn

The Anarchist Expropriators by Osvaldo Bayer is out!

“It’s a chastening thought that Osvaldo Bayer wrote this book nearly forty years ago and his work still challenges us, as anarchists, with ideas, arguments, and problems that are still as relevant today as they were in 1975 or, indeed, as when the actions of this narrative were originally carried out… Those constant and exhausting questions of what anarchism is and the best way to practice it and bring about anarchy. Bayer is careful to try to delineate the complexities of these differences and provides us with a useful guide to understanding them.” Kate Sharpley Library (from the Introduction)
Available from AK Press https://www.akpress.org/the-anarchist-expropriators.html
Review from the next issue of the bulletin http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/83bm8c