Brave New World

Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in the London of AD 2540 (632 A.F. in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of futurism. Huxley answered this book with a reassessment in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final work, a novel titled Island (1962), both summarized below. In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Brave New World came after Huxley's commercial and critical success for his previous works, so Huxley's publishers anticipated another success.  In Great Britain, before the general trade edition, Chatto & Windus offered a signed, numbered run of 324 copies, 314 of which were released for general sale.  The US publisher, Doubleday Doran, also released a limited first printing of 250 signed, numbed copies ahead of the larger general release.