Burmese Days by GEORGE ORWELL ~ SIGNED First Edition 1934 Presentation Copy 1st

Description: Burmese Days by George Orwell Signed presentation copy of the author's first novel New York: Harper & Brothers, 1934. First edition. (The first American edition, preceding the British.) Presentation copy of the author's first novel, signed by George Orwell (pen name of Eric Blair), inscribed to his favorite aunt and supporter on front free endpaper verso: "Aunt Nellie / with love / from Eric." Nellie Limouzin (1870-1950) was his mother's sister, who lived in Paris. She provided him with encouragement, support, and contacts throughout his life. [vi], 371 pp. Bound in publisher's orange cloth with black lettering, floral endpapers. A Very Good copy, lacking the dust jacket, with light silverfishing to cloth, corners bumped, front hinge tender, a few spots of foxing to top edge. A few notes in margins in pencil in an unknown hand; could be Limouzin or Orwell. Provenance: from the collection of William A. Strutz, housed in a custom slipcase with his tiny bookplate. A rare presentation copy of the famous English author's first novel. Burmese Days was published first in America, preceding by a year its appearance in the UK. Publisher Victor Gollancz, who had published Down and Out in Paris, initially rejected the novel, fearing a possible libel case. The Gollancz rejection was followed by two more, from both Heinemann and Cape. Finally, Harper & Brothers in New York agreed to publish the book, which appeared in October 1934 in a first edition of 2,000 copies. The British edition followed the following summer, for which Orwell revised some details of the text to distance it further from his own experiences. However, Orwell regretted these amendments, and thereafter considered the American edition as "the true first edition" and the British as "a garbled version and should NOT be followed." In Paris the young Blair had stayed with his mother's sister, his favorite Aunt Nellie Limouzin and her partner, the writer and radical Esperantist, Eugene Adam. At that time, the 24-year-old Blair was desperate to escape "five boring years within the sound of bugles" serving in the Indian Imperial Police. He departed Rangoon on leave in mid-July 1927 aboard the MV Shropshire, disembarking at Marseilles before likely making his way to Paris by train to visit Aunt Nellie, who lived in the twelfth arrondissement. Fenwick A.2a.

Price: 58000 USD

Location: Portland, Oregon

End Time: 2024-10-05T17:59:06.000Z

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