Orwell, George (1945) ‘Animal Farm’, UK first edition in the original first state dust jacket

George Orwell (alias Eric Arthur Blair) (1945) ‘Animal Farm – A Fairy Story‘, UK first edition, first printing, published by Secker & Warburg, in the original, first issue dust jacket with ‘Searchlight’ printed in blue on the reverse of the jacket.

Condition: the book is in near fine condition with a brief previous owner’s name and date written on the front free endpaper. Internally otherwise clean. No foxing on the page block, nor to the endpapers as sometimes encountered. One vertical crease to the front free endpaper. The boards are clean and square with the green colour unfaded to the panels and spine. The dust jacket is the original first issue wrapper and has benefitted from minor cosmetic restoration as shown (see our last two images). There was one small section to the front panel where some of the colour patina had been missing, probably from removal of a sticker. This has been repigmented by a leading professional restoration expert in the UK. Also, one tear has been closed. Otherwise, even before the restoration work the wrapper was in an exceptionally bright, clean and complete condition without any chips nor missing sections. Now it presents in fine condition. The reverse is nice with the blue train and ‘Searchlight Books’ printed in blue (there is also a red variant with no priority). A very nice specimen.

Animal Farm, a landmark book of dystopian fiction and cornerstone of any serious first edition library. Its publication was delayed since the Allies needed Stalin in the war effort against the Nazis and the UK did not want to offend Uncle Joe with this mocking satire of Soviet authoritarian rule.

One of only 4,500 true first edition copies with the original dust jacket. The American version of the book had a colossal 50,000 print run and was issued in 1946. Within four years of publication already half a million copies were sold.