Nineteen Eighty-Four.
$14,000 · Offered by Biblio
First edition
London: Secker Warburg, 1949. First edition of Orwell’s classic dystopian novel. 312 pages ; 19 cm. Octavo. Original light green cloth, spine lettered in red. Fenwick records two variant states of the dust jacket, one green and one red, with no priority. Bibliographic note: Orwell's last novel, published in 1949, a year before his death. Cyril Connolly described it as written with "particular feeling and clarity," observing that "even the political arguments are never dull. In fact they are worked out with passionate logic. 'Double Think', 'Newspeak', 'Big Brother' now form part of the language. It is a warning against totalitarianism under any disguise, left or right" (Connolly, The Modern Movement 99). Condition: Near fine in a very good dust jacket. cf. Connolly, The Modern Movement 99; Fenwick A12a. George Orwell s final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, follows Winston Smith, a functionary of the Party in a totalitarian superstate that monitors every citizen and continually rewrites the past. Published in 1949, a year before Orwell s death, it gave the language Big Brother, Newspeak, doublethink, and the Thought Police. It remains one of the most influential political novels of the twentieth century and a constant reference point in debates over surveillance, propaganda, and state power.
- Publisher: Secker & Warburg
- Year: 1949
- Edition: First Edition
- Binding: hardcover
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