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
London Anarchist Bookfair 2025
The London Anarchist Bookfair 2025 is on Saturday 20 September in the Waterloo Graffiti Tunnel. See https://anarchistbookfair.london/ and https://www.leakestreetarches.london/Decades in the Struggle: Interviewing older anarchists
‘Decades in the Struggle’ is a project interviewing anarchist and anarchist-adjacent thinkers, writers, and activists (aged 60 and older, who are fluent in spoken English) in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and beyond. More details at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/hx3hg5.Marking the life of Octavio Alberola
The KSL would like to mark the life of Octavio Alberola. News of his death came from Agustín Comotto: Death of Octavio Alberola (1928-2025) https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/ksn258. We have posted an interview with him by Agustín Guillamón from November 2016 https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/c5b1t1. There's a review of his autobiography at Defeat and Revival : Thoughts on The Weight of the Stars [Book Review] https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/tqjs5z.April 2025 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online
KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 117, April 2025 has just been posted on our site: https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/69pb54. The pdf is up at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/80gd1jContents:
The ‘Finest library on Anarchy’ : Georges Pilotelle, Columbia University and anarchist print culture "there are things listed that seem worth looking at like the ‘Volume of Italian and Spanish anarchist periodical issues’, ‘a collection of socialistic and anarchistic ballads and songs in French and German’ and ‘Anarchistic pamphlets and posters in French, English, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish, 1883-1896’." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/wwq1v9
John Couzin – Seeker of Peace, Poet and Propagandist (1934-2025) by Stasia Rice "His big hearted love for everyone has left a deep impression upon us all and the memory of John Couzin’s own spirit of revolt will forever remain a source of inspiration in our lives." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/v15h46
Obituary: Umberto Tommasini (1896-1980) "At the age of 74, in 1970, he repulsed a fascist attack on the group’s premises, chasing several of the attackers into the streets and seeing off several others." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/vx0nhx
Layabouts? by Albert Meltzer "The country is a “paradise for layabouts, crooks, gangsters and gamblers”. True, but we call them the Ruling Class.’" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/76hgm7
Piecing Together Anarchist History by Barry Pateman "Firstly, I think we should understand that fliers don’t just appear. They are often the result of careful thinking and planning and, of course, effort." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/q575vs
Library update (April 2025) [amongst other things] "Cover price has increased for the first time since 1991, for the obvious reason. Still happy to get donations from people who like what we do." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/66t392
The Police Computer Speaks by Richard Warren "this computer, being entirely logical, is infallible in its reasoning…" https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/jh9z2q
Antoinette Cazal "Constance Bantman has just published a short piece on French anarchist Antoinette Cazal (1862-1902) who was acquitted in the ‘Trial of the Thirty’ (1894) and had ‘complicated romantic entanglements with Léon Ortiz’, who was convicted." https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/s1rqjs
John Couzin (1934-2025)
We're sorry to report the death of John Couzin of Glasgow, among other things a poet, historian and stalwart of the Spirit of Revolt Archives of Dissent. We send our best wishes to his partner, family, friends and comrades.We've posted the tribute John Couzin – Seeker of Peace, Poet and Propagandist (1934-2025) by his partner, Stasia Rice at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/v15h46