ORWELL, George (1903-1950). Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949.

8vo. Original lime green cloth, red-lettered on spine, top edge stained red (spine and covers edges slightly faded, slightly leaned); in unrestored unclipped green dust jacket (a few small chips and tears, light soiling to rear panel).

FIRST EDITION of Orwell's last novel, published just a year before his death, written with "particular feeling and clarity"; "even the political arguments are never dull. In fact they are worked out with passionate logic. 'Double Think', 'Newspeak', 'Big Brother' now form part of the language. It is a warning against totalitarianism under any disguise -- left or right" (Connolly, The Modern Movement 99). Fenwick records two variant states of the dust jacket, one green and one red, with no priority. Fenwick A12a.