Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954. First U.K. Edition. First Impression.
Octavo (20.5cm); red paper-covered boards with titles stamped in silver on spine. Dustjacket- lower board corners gently tapped (though still sharp), else a fresh, very near-fine copy. In the original dustjacket, unclipped, showing the most trivial wear to extremities, and a few pinpoint rubbed spots to spine ends and corner tips; very near Fine with the spine panel notably bright and unfaded.
Housed in a custom clamshell box by James Tapley, with a sheet of Fahrenheit 451 stationary signed by Bradbury inset on the inner cover.
Sharp copy of Bradbury’s best-known work, based on his 1951 short story “The Fireman.”
Totalitarian state outlaws virtually all books, especially the classics; an underground form of people who memorize great books to preserve them for posterity. The plot revolves around a “fireman’s” conversion from book burner to preserver. (Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 3-61).
