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The Runnymede Press, Published 1985. Wraps, 72 pp. plus 56 pp. of exhibits; 28 cm; "First Printing - June 1985" stated on copyright page; typescript text, photo-offset; plastic strip-and-post binding through eleven punched holes, with clear acetate sheet over front cover; illustrated with a frontispiece and four black-and-white plates, with statistical tables and facsimile documents throughout.
In Very Good condition. Mustard brown textured card covers printed in black, mild shelf wear, gloss variation across head of front cover. Faint vertical line with a few dark flecks running down center of rear cover. Light toning to first leaf from cover offset. Binding sound, all eleven posts engaged, acetate sheet intact. Pages clean. Otherwise unmarked. Book-length attack on the Society for Creative Anachronism by a member of twelve years who had been appointed to its Board of Directors. The author is Woodford of Lorien in the Society, of the Kingdom of Atenveldt: his arms were registered with the College of Arms by September 1971, he received the Order of the Laurel in May 1972 and was made a Knight in June 1973, and his removal from the Board is recalled as a notable event of the period by Duke Siegfried von Hoflichkeit, a founder of the Society, in a 1995 oral history for the Calontir Living History Series. Published under an imprint named for the meadow where Magna Carta was sealed. Four chapters argue that the organization set aside living history for what the author calls "The Game," and measure it against Ebenstein's criteria for fascism and against a neomonarchist reading drawn from The Broad Stone of Honour and Action Francaise. The second half is documentary: ten exhibits reproducing the Laws of the Kingdom of the West, the Society's articles of incorporation, its 1983 periodic report to the Attorney General of California with federal income tax report, a United States Tax Court decision denying educational non-profit status to a science fiction society, Bob Jones University vs U.S., an attorney's opinion letter of February 1983 on removal of members from positions in contravention of constitutional rights, a table of 104 events broken out by type across nine kingdoms, a survey of the Society's non-profit registration status in 43 responding states dated November 1979, and a policy statement from the President of the Society to all members. The four plates show an interkingdom war of April 1985, captioned by the author. Frontispiece and caption taken from Toynbee's A Study of History. Laid in is a leaf clipped from a mid-1980s living-history periodical carrying the publisher's advertisement for this book, with an endorsement from Jay Anderson, author of Time Machines, on the verso of a letters page. Contents: The Discovery of a Cult; Intensity of Activity and Task; Decentralization and "Doing Your Own Thing"; Deliberate Concealment of True Ideals and Goals; The Development of a Backlash; The Reform Movement; The Dominance of "The Game"; The Two Major Flaws of the S.C.A.; Letters and Editorials; The Issues Questionnaire; S.C.A. Corpora and Kingdom Laws; The Seneschal's Handbook; "The Royal Advisor"; The Educational, Non-Educational, and Contra-Educational Aspects of the S.C.A.; S.C.A. Publications, Laws, Structure, Crafts and Events; The Remoteness of the Environment that is to be Re-created; An Obsession with Do-It-Yourself; The Belief in the Sufficiency of the "Flavor" of Other Times and Realms; Event Analysis; Corpora and Kingdom Law; Awards; S.C.A. Related Correspondence; The S.C.A. as a Contra-Educational Organization; S.C.A. U.; Activities and Consequences of the S.C.A. Contrary to the Public Interest; The S.C.A. as a Proto-fascist Monarchical Cult; Ebenstein's Criteria; Conclusions on Fascism; Neomonarchist Authoritarianism; The Broad Stone of Honor; Action Francaise; The S.C.A.'s Creation; List of Exhibits.