LOT #45143 |
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George Orwell. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. London: Secker & Warburg, 1945....
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Description
Very rare uncorrected proof
George Orwell. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. London:
Secker & Warburg, 1945.8vo. Publisher's original plain gray wrappers. Custom slipcase, matching chemise.
ADVANCED UNCORRECTED PROOF OF THE FIRST EDITION, with "First Published February 1945" on the copyright page.
Fenwick records that Orwell received the page proofs on 31 January 1945. In mid-March of 1945, Orwell wrote to Roger Senhouse (co-owner of Secker & Warburg), "I don't know whether Animal Farm has definitely gone to press. If it has not actually been printed yet, there is one further alteration of one word that I would like to make. In Chapter VIII (I think it is VIII), when the windmill is blown up, I wrote 'all the animals including Napoleon flung themselves on their faces.' I would like to alter it to 'all the animals except Napoleon.' If the book has been printed it's not worth bothering about, but I just thought the alteration would be fair to JS [Joseph Stalin], as he did stay in Moscow during the German advance" (quoted in Fenwick, p. 97).
The first edition was published on 17 August 1945, with the line referenced above amended to: "all the animals except Napoleon." In the present advance copy, the line still reads: "The pigeons swirled into the air, and all the animals, Napoleon included, flung themselves flat on their bellies and hid their faces" (p. 73).
Condition: Minor edgewear and thumbsoiling. A few scattered stains.
References: See Fenwick A10a for the first edition.
Provenance: Acquired from House of Books, Ltd., New York, acquisition date unknown. From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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