London, Secker & Warburg, (1949). The first edition of his classic, disturbingly relevant dystopia, a chilling extrapolation of the political tendencies in postwar Great Britain, and one of the most influential works of the century -- whose very title became a synonym for an omnipresent surveillance state, and which introduced to the language such phrases (and ideas) as "thought police," "newspeak," "doublethink," and "Big Brother." Chosen as one of the novels of the century by the Modern Library, Radcliffe, Waterstones and the New York Public Library. This copy is from the library of Bosley Wilder, author of Murder at Black Dragon River and bears her briefly used name, "Brotman." Small Parisian bookstore label lower rear pastedown; Brotman lived in Paris for a time, and was friends with and, according to the Baldwin biography, perhaps the occasional lover of author James Baldwin. Stray pen mark to foredge; faint cup ring to front board; rich top stain; a near fine copy in a very good, red dust jacket with a few small corner chips and virtually none of the spine fading that typically afflicts this dust jacket. A nice copy, with interesting literary provenance. [#033923] SOLD