B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 40 "THE ONE SCIENCE FICTION BOOK YOU MUST READ, EVEN IF YOU DON'T READ SCIENCE FICTION": PREFERRED FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF ENGLISH WRITER WYNDAM'S CLASSIC NOVEL, THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, 1951 40. WYNDHAM, John. The Day of the Triffids. London: Michael Joseph, 1951. Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. $2600 Preferred first English edition of Wyndham's finest and most famous novel, the basis for the 1962 film classic. A splendid copy in original dust jacket. Day of the Triffids is regarded as "the one science fiction book you must read, even if you don't read science fiction… [it] revolutionized the imagery of science fiction" (Edmund Morris). "This tale of monsters from a botched experiment marching over the world is a superior example of its breed" (Anatomy of Wonder II-1296). To The New York Times, Wyndam "did more than any other British writer since H.G. Wells to make science fiction popular in this country." To critics, "what raises this novel head and shoulders over almost all others in the subgenre is the quality of the writing and the characterization. Details unfold with leisurely novelistic richness and the characters' actions make logical and psychological sense" (Anatomy of Wonder 3-199). Basis for the 1962 film classic and later BBC adaptations, the novel "compares favorably to H.G. Wells' catastrophe novels, especially with War of the Worlds" (Magill, Survey of Science Fiction Literature, 506). While preceded by an American edition of the same year, this first English edition is preferred due to its revised text. Dust jacket design by Patrick Gierth; without rarely found bellyband. Serialized in a condensed version in Colliers magazine as Revolt of the Triffids (January 6-February 3, 1951). Clute & Nichols, 135354. Pringle, Ultimate Guide, 82. Listed in Pringle, Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels. Owner signature. Text very fresh with scant foxing to preliminaries and fore-edges; trace of edge-wear mainly to spine ends, faint soiling to colorful dust jacket. An excellent near-fine copy.
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