Nineteen Eighty-Four by Orwell, George - 1949

London: Putnam, 1931. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First British edition, first printing. (Apparently published simultaneously with the American edition.) 705, (2) p. Very Good+ in Good dust jacket. Foxing to fore edge, corners lightly bumped. Small tear in cloth at head. Dust jacket flap price intact, chips missing at extremities, especially at head. Closed tear through back panel that has been mended with archival, ph-neutral mending tissue on verso. Includes gray publisher's promotional card. British writer and playwright Lionel Britton's only novel, a long out-of-print classic of experimental Depression-era proletarian literature narrated in the second person. It was hailed by George Orwell and Bertrand Russell among other critics. Quite uncommon in its dust jacket.

London: Arthur Barker Ltd, 1935. First British Edition. Very Good+/Good. First British edition. Signed by author on front free endpaper, inscribed to former owner and dated August 1944. [vi], 233 pp. Original buckram cloth lettered in red. Very Good+ with light stain to fore edge, slight curving to boards, in Good dust jacket with some light dampstaining, spine panel darkened, chipped along edges. An existential examination of America via the marathon dance craze of the Great Depression, which inspired a 1969 film directed by Sydney Pollack.

New York: William Morrow and Company, 1968. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by author as Richard Hooker on the title page with quote marks around his name; Richard Hooker is the pseudonym of Dr. Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr. Near Fine, with light edge wear, toning to spine ends, small evidence of tape removal to recto of half-title page, hinge at title page over-opened. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket, with light shelf wear and toning. A laid-in note in a former owner's hand reads, "Dr. Hornberger autographed this book as "Richard Hooker" while still employed as a doctor at Thayer Hospital in Waterville, Maine." Signed copies are scarce.

New York: Robert O. Ballou, 1933. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition, first issue. Signed by Mahlon Blaine, whose illustrations appear on the the dust jacket, endsheets and title page. Bound in publisher's green cloth with spine lettered in gilt. Near Fine. Cloth lightly sunned through jacket at spine, and along top and bottom edges. Pages toned. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light wear at the spine ends, and a short closed tear along the top edge of the front panel with some faint associated creasing. A lovely copy, signed by the illustrator. In the early '20s, Blaine met a young John Steinbeck on the Panama Canal, and the two quickly became friends. Blaine would go on illustrate the dust jacket and endsheets for Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, as well as for this title. Goldstone & Payne, A3a.

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1943. First Edition. Very Good/Very Good. First edition stated, first printing. Bound in publisher's green cloth with title label to spine. Very Good+ with fading to spine, light softening to spine ends, pages toned. In a Very Good first issue dust jacket with a blank verso and publisher's original price of $2.75 intact; Rubbing and wear mainly at extremities, light chipping at spine ends. A nice example of the wartime production.

London: Putnam, 1931. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First British edition, first printing. (Apparently published simultaneously with the American edition.) 705, (2) p. Very Good+ in Good dust jacket. Foxing to fore edge, corners lightly bumped. Small tear in cloth at head. Dust jacket flap price intact, chips missing at extremities, especially at head. Closed tear through back panel that has been mended with archival, ph-neutral mending tissue on verso. Includes gray publisher's promotional card. British writer and playwright Lionel Britton's only novel, a long out-of-print classic of experimental Depression-era proletarian literature narrated in the second person. It was hailed by George Orwell and Bertrand Russell among other critics. Quite uncommon in its dust jacket.

New York: The Viking Press, 1938. First Edition. First edition. 303 pp. Original cloth. Small dampstain to top of back board, else Near Fine in Very Good unclipped dust jacket with tears along folds at top of front panel, edge-rubbing, small closed tear to bottom of back panel, spine slightly darkened, a few pieces of tape to verso, dampstain to verso of back panel. A collection of twelve stories by the chronicler of the rough-and-tumble American West.

New York: Ariel Books / Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1962. First Edition. Good/Good. 211 pp. First edition, stated first printing. Good, with sunning to boards at edges, previous owner name to front free endpaper and tide mark to top edge of front paste down. Foxing to textblock edge and and small stray ink mark to top edge. In a Good first issue dust jacket with price of $3.25 intact, edge worn, spine toned and staining more visible at the verso. First printings of this Newbery winner are uncommon.

New York: The Lakeside Press, 1930. First Edition Thus. Near Fine/Very Good. First edition thus, limited to 1,000 copies. Three volumes in publisher's acetate jackets, in aluminum slipcase. Presentation copy signed by Rockwell Kent on the front free end paper of Volume I, "Inscribed with affectionate friendship to Putzie - Rockwell Kent, 1950." Volumes II and III bear Rockwell Kent-illustrated bookplates of Marie Luise Hinrichs. Near Fine. Narrow strips of sunning to spine cloth at ends, light rubbing to cloth at extremities and light abrasions to black topstains. Pages toned and with offsetting from illustrations. Acetate wrappers are wrinkled and shrunken with age, as is typical, and show a bit of chipping and edge wear, with some separation starting between the acetate and a paper flap on both volumes II and III; acetate on volume II with light staining. Aluminum slipcase is lightly worn, bumped at top and bottom edge. A stunning presentation copy, inscribed by Kent, and with bookplates designed… Read More

New York: Walker and Company, 1970. First Hardcover Edition. Very Good/Very Good. First hardcover edition. Signed twice by the author; Signed in black marker on the front free endpaper and inscribed in blue ink on the half-title page to a former owner. Review copy with publisher's photocopied letter laid in. Very Good with toning to edges and bumping at corners and spine ends. Pages toned. In a Very Good unclipped dust jacket with the spine toned and bumped at the edges, rubbing and light creasing to the top edge of the front panel.