• 28 • “IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN”: FIRST EDITION OF FAHRENHEIT 451, INSCRIBED BY BRADBURY 28 BRADBURY, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York, 1953. Octavo, original red paper boards, dust jacket. $9000 First edition of Bradbury’s classic dystopia, boldly inscribed by him: “For Robert Smith—this book 33 years old this month! With friendly wishes! From Ray Bradbury / Sept. 12, 1987.” “Bradbury’s talents are very clear in the first of his few novels” (Clute & Nicholls, 152). “What is distinctive about Fahrenheit 451 as a work of literature is not what Bradbury says but how he says it… Bradbury’s evocative, lyrical style charges [the book] with a sense of mystery and connotative depth that go beyond the normal boundaries of dystopian fiction… It is the only major symbolic dystopia of our time” (Donald Watt). This volume contains the famous title novel (expanded from a novella which appeared in 1950 in Galaxy Science Fiction), together with the short stories “The Playground” and “And the Rock Cried Out.” Illustrated with three full-page drawings by Joe Mugnaini, who also provided the dust jacket art. With no statement of printing on copyright page, as called for. The first edition was issued in four different bindings (a paperback binding preceded the three hardcover bindings, among which no priority has been determined); this is binding C, red cloth-textured paper boards lettered in yellow (Currey, 44). Barron, Anatomy of Wonder II:153. Pringle, 100 Best Science Fiction Novels 8. New York Public Library, Books of the Century, 162. Book with light rubbing to edges and corners; dust jacket with mild toning to spine and light wear to spine ends. A near-fine signed copy.
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