Welcome to the Sparrows' Nest Library and Archive

Based in Nottingham (UK), we look after tens of thousands of books, journals, pamphlets, zines, leaflets, posters and other items documenting the anarchist movement in the UK and beyond, as well as local radical history. Browse our catalogue, access digitised records in our free Digital Library and get in touch to arrange a visit.
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Black Flag newspaper was founded by Albert Meltzer, Stuart Christie and others in 1970, incorporating the Bulletin of the Anarchist Black Cross (the Bulletin was later revived as an independent publication). It has been kept going most recently by a very determined Iain McKay (also the author of the Anarchist FAQ) with an editorial collective and contributors including the Anarchist Federation. As such it remains one of the longest running and most significant anarchist publications in Britain. Can you help us complete the collection? Those of you who have helped already thank you very much! Last updated 29th May 2017 with 6 previously missing issues.

A partial digital archive of Black Flag issues can be found on LibCom, other partially scanned issues can be found in our Digital Library (they are tricky to digitise because of their size and shape, but we will get there). Watch this space for an immanent scan of our current collection of Vol 1 (known only as Bulletin of the ABC) & Vol 2  in the period 1969-1973.

 

The Black Flag collection at the Sparrows’ Nest:

What we have…

We hold numerous issues of Black Flag in various collections. Please see below for a recent inventory. This list contains our early copies of the Bulletin of the Anarchist Black Cross. For the more recent issues of the Bulletin (1990s, many of them digitised), please see our catalogue and the Digital Library.

In addition to format size/shape there are a number of other technical niceties when it comes to cataloguing Black Flag (at times called The Black Flag). These include frequent changes to the subtitle The Anarchist Fortnightly, Organ of the Anarchist Black Cross, etc. and publication intervals fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, twice yearly, annually - some readers may also remember “excitingly irregular”!

Regarding early issues before the ABC Bulletin became Black Flag, given that a number of Bulletins were neither dated nor numbered, it appears that there a Volume I of Black Flag so named never existed, and that the editors simply counted the various ABC Bulletins as Volume I, but if you know better, please contact us!

Bulletin of the Anarchist Black Cross:

1969-70; issues 4, 5, 8, 9.

Black Flag (with approximate date ranges):

Vol. 2; 1971-3; issues 1-9, One not numbered - 13?, 15

Vol. 3; 1973-5; complete (19 issues).

Vol. 4; 1975-6; complete (15 issues).

Vol. 5; 1977-9; issues 1-8, 10-13.

Vol. 6; 1980-3; issues 1, 7, 10, 12, plus one Supplement numbered 3.

Vol. 7; 1983-1984; issues 2D, 2E, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 3G, 4 (quarterly Autumn 1983), 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D; 5 (quarterly Winter 1984) 5D-5G (108-111), 6 (quarterly 1984), 6C (114), 6E (116), 6F(117), 7 (quarterly Autumn 1984), 7A (119), 7A again (120), 7D (122), 126.

Later issues 1985-2016; 130, 134, 139-221, 223-237.

…and what we would like to have

Bulletin of the Anarchist Black Cross:

Issues 1-3, 6, 7 and any issues that may exist after 9.

Black Flag (with approximate date ranges):

Vol. 2: issues 10-13 (although we have one issue dated between 9 and 15 but unnumbered!).

Vol. 5: issue 9.

Vol. 6: issues 2-6, 8, 9, 11 and any issues after 12 plus any other Supplements before no. 3.

Vol. 7: issues 2A-2C, 3A, 4E (and any later 4x issues), 5A-5C (maybe same as 105-7), 6A (112), 6B (113), 6D (115), 6G (118), 7C (121), 7E (123), 124, 125, 127. Any earlier quarterlies 1-3 although these may not exist.

Later issues: 128, 129, 131-133, 135-138, 222.

To manage to get a full collection would be really good for the movement, because it possibly doesn’t exist anywhere yet. So if you hold any of these missing copies and could bear parting with them, or if we could digitise anything from your collection, please contact us!

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