“Why is it," he said, one time, at the subway entrance, "I feel I've known you so many years?"
"Because I like you," she said, "and I don't want anything from you.”

Here we offer the scarce first retail edition, first print, of the classic dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, published by Ballantine Books, New York, in 1953. Features the following necessary first edition points: page 107, line 8, "three" should be "two"; p.119, l.23, side-by-side commas; p.125, l.17-22 "burned" should be "burnt"; p.137, l.21, missing the word "watch"; p.137, l.33 "Charta" should be "Carta". Features a hand-painted cover and front endpages designed with a burning-book motif. A signed label on the blank prelims I assume is an artist's mark for this truly one-of-a-kind collectible. The book comes wrapped in the highest quality facsimile of the first edition dust jacket you can only get here, digitally remastered and printed on coated heavyweight bond. The polymer coating on the paper ensures the brightest colors and sharpest prints, as the ink sits atop the paper rather than being absorbed into the fibers.

Often sellers mistake this as a red cloth binding, but it is actually a textured "clothette" binding, meaning a paper binding made to look like cloth. This is why the board edges and the rear board have obvious wear, as the surface wears more easily than cloth (please see pics.) Intact, neatly-inscribed endpapers (please see pics).  Very tight and square binding, very clean, bright, and crisp text. 199 pages, plus bio; measures approximately 8 x 5.5-inches. The dust jacket comes sleeved in ph-neutral mylar and ready to slip into your collection.

This custom, very rare iconic first will make a wonderful addition to your collection or a very special gift.

Check out our shelf of other iconic fantasy and sci-fi firsts by clicking HERE!

** Have you seen all the amazing first and rare editions of iconic books we offer? We gladly combine shipping and refund the shipping overpayment, so please check out our other items! -- other auctions of classic antiquarian literature and special gifts!**

Thank you for your interest!


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