Bradbury, Ray (1947) ‘Dark Carnival’, US signed and inscribed first edition

Ray Bradbury (1947) ‘Dark Carnival‘, US first edition, first printing, published by Arkham House. Signed and inscribed in the year of the publication of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ (1953) by the author in his early hand: “For Howard – Again Thanks – And My Appreciation from Ray Bradbury | March 21, 1953”. This seems to be an association copy given the inscription content, but we have not been able research who Howard was.

Condition: the book is in clean and fine condition without any previous owner’s scribbles. The dust jacket is very good with some wear to the folds. The reverse shows proefessional tape repairs/ strengthening to the folds as shown.

‘Dark Carnival’ is Ray Bradbury’s first published book. Its print run was around 3,000 copies and a good portion of those were signed by Bradbury over the decades. It is not easy to find an inscribed copy in Bradbury’s early hand and this close to publication. Notice that in 1953 Bradbury’s masterpiece ‘Fahrenheit 451’ was published.