“WE ARE ALL INSECTS. GROPING TOWARDS SOMETHING TERRIBLE OR DIVINE”: FINE FIRST EDITION OF PHILIP K. DICK'S MASTERPIECE, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

DICK, Philip K. The Man in the High Castle. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, (1962). Octavo, original black paper boards, original dust jacket. $4200.

First edition of Dick’s Hugo Award-winning classic of alternate history, a searing vision of postwar America under Axis domination and “the single most resonant and carefully imagined book of Dick’s career.”

Winner of the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel (Dick's first major science fiction award) and "the single most resonant and carefully imagined book of Dick's career" (New York Times), The Man in the High Castle postulates a timeline in which the Allies lost World War II, and Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan divided North America. "Dick succeeded in creating a plausible imaginary world in which Americans are obliged to squirm with embarrassment, resentment and remorse; they bear the full weight of cultural oppression which has been borne in our time-stream by so many of the world's other peoples… The novel questions our whole notion of 'reality,' showing how frail the consensus can be… It is probably Dick's best work, and the most memorable alternative world tale, or fantasia of historical possibility, ever written" (Science Fiction 100 Best, 93-94). First edition, with no notice of printing on copyright page and code "D36" on page 239. Levack 23a. Currey, 126. Anatomy of Wonder II-331.

Book with corners slightly bumped; dust jacket with corresponding light corner wear, very small tear to rear lower corner. A near-fine copy.