Description

FAHRENHEIT 451, SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION, BOUND IN ASBESTOS

BRADBURY, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, (1953). Octavo, original white asbestos cloth. Housed in custom half red morocco clamshell box.

Signed limited first edition, number 38 of only 200 copies bound in fragile asbestos cloth. One of the most sought-after modern works and most rare.

“What is distinctive about Fahrenheit 451 as a work of literature is not what Bradbury says but how he says it? Bradbury’s evocative, lyrical style charges [the book] with a sense of mystery and connotative depth that go beyond the normal boundaries of dystopian fiction? It is the only major symbolic dystopia of our time” (Donald Watt). The first edition was issued in four different bindings (a paperback binding preceded the three hardcover bindings, among which no priority has been determined); this is the rarest binding, and one of the most desirable of all classic science fiction editions (Curry, 44). New York Public Library, Books of the Century, 162.

Book extremely good with minor dampstaining to bottom of front panel and faint cracking to asbestos cloth as usual, still far better than often found. A highly desirable signed limited first edition.