Marx and Engels collected works volume 50

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Lawrence and Wishart, 660 pages, hardback, £45

After nearly 30 years and 50 tomes, the final volume of the Marx and Engels collected works was published earlier this year. Volume 50 contains the last letters written by Frederick Engels between 1892 and his death in 1895.

The letters include personal and political observations. We learn of Engels' fear of false teeth and his work in preparing Capital Volume III.

His opinion of other socialists was noticeably sharp. Keir Hardie is described as cunning, an arch-intriguer and too vain. The Fabians were "a bunch of careerists" but he was optimistic about the prospects of the Independent Labour Party.

The 50 volumes contain almost 2,000 works and nearly 4,000 letters, with a great deal published in English for the first time. They are a treasure trove of comment and analysis, and recall a period when the labour movement was in the ascendant.