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Nineteen Eighty-Four (The Complete Works of George Orwell, V. 9) Hardcover - 2003

by Orwell, George

About this book

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell has become the definitive dystopian novel of the twentieth century.

Originally published on June 8, 1949 by Secker and Warburg in the United Kingdom, the book follows the main character, Winston Smith, through his disillusionment with totalitarianism and a doomed struggle of resistance. George Orwell is a pen-name, Orwell's real name was Eric Blair.
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Summary

'You have talked so often of going to the dogs – and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them.' George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time among the desperately poor and destitute in London and Paris is a moving tour of the underworld of society. Here he painstakingly documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor – sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses, working as a dishwasher in the vile 'Hotel X', living alongside tramps, surviving on scraps and cigarette butts – in an unforgettable account of what being down and out is really like.

First line

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

First Edition Identification

The overall quality of the printing of this first edition is high. Some commonly found defects include missing plates, damage to the frontispiece or endpapers, and age-tanned pages. Blair died six months after publication of this, his last novel. Very rare signed copies have significant value, with some volumes priced near $10,000 USD. Because of this, numerous attempts have been made at forging the author's signature, and care should be taken to authenticate a signed copy. Unsigned first-edition first-printing British editions in mint condition can sometimes be priced in the $2,000 to $3,000 range (USD). 

The first US edition was printed by Harcourt, Brace and Company in 1949, only five days after the U.K. Edition. The UK edition first printing ran 26,575 copies, the US edition approximately 20,000. The book was an instant best seller in both Great Britain and the United States. 

Details

  • Title Nineteen Eighty-Four (The Complete Works of George Orwell, V. 9)
  • Author Orwell, George
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Publisher Secker & Warburg Ltd
  • Date January 2003
  • ISBN 9780151351015

About the author

George Orwell (1903-1950)
Born in India, Eric Arthur Blair was better known by his penname, George Orwell. His work as a journalist, his non-fiction writing, and his time spent as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War demonstrated his strong political beliefs, which carried into his fiction. Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four are widely cited as key works of political allegory, and his name has become a shorthand for political dystopias, while terms from his novels have permeated the common lexicon. He died in 1950 at the age of 46.

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