George Orwell bibliography published in collections during his life—"Inside the Whale and Other Essays" by his original publisher Victor Gollancz Ltd in 1940, and "Critical Essays" by Secker and Warburg in 1946. The latter press also published the collections "Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays" in 1950 (republished by Penguin in 2003) and "England Your England and Other Essays" in 1953. Since his death many collections of essays have appeared, with the first attempt at a comprehensive collection being the four-volume "Collected Essays, Letters and Journalism of George Orwell" edited by Ian Angus and Sonia Brownell, which was published by Secker and Warburg
George Orwell until he had seen the situation "in situ", Orwell instead used his Independent Labour Party contacts to get a letter of introduction to John McNair in Barcelona. Orwell set out for Spain on about 23 December 1936, dining with Henry Miller in Paris on the way. The American writer told Orwell that going to fight in the Civil War out of some sense of obligation or guilt was "sheer stupidity" and that the Englishman's ideas "about combating Fascism, defending democracy, etc., etc., were all baloney." A few days later in Barcelona, Orwell met John McNair of the Independent Labour Party