Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript - George Orwell - Bauman Rare Books

Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript

George ORWELL

Item#: 124409 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript

Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript

Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript

"WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"

ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript. Weston, Massachusetts: M & S Press, 1984. Folio (10 by 14 inches), original half blue morocco, original marbled boards, original slipcase, original shipping box.

Limited edition, number 247 of 275 copies (out of a total edition of 330) of this facsimile edition of the extant manuscript of Nineteen Eighty-Four, edited by Peter Davidson and with a preface by Daniel G. Siegel, handsomely bound at Grey Parrot bindery.

Published in 1984, this sumptuous privately printed edition presents in facsimile all that survives of the preliminary draft versions of Nineteen Eight-Four, a manuscript described by Sonia Orwell as "the only MS of any of George's books in existence." Orwell's classic work of dystopian fiction was begun in 1946 and composed in four stages. The extant manuscript provides the narrative of Nineteen Eighty-Four in outline from the beginning almost to the conclusion, with some gaps. As noted by Peter Davison in his Introduction to this edition, "despite all the rewriting revealed by this facsimile, it is remarkable how closely what has survived adheres to the main sweep of the narrative of Nineteen Eighty-Four. All the principal features, except the Appendix on Newspeak, are present, suggesting that the story had been pretty fully formed in Orwell's mind by the time he sat down to write it." In 1952 Sonia Orwell contributed "the original manuscript of Orwell's last novel, partly in typescript but mainly in his own manuscript" to a charity auction at Christie's. It sold to Scribner's of New York who then arranged a sale to a collector in Kansas. Scribner's again handled the manuscript in 1969 when it was sold to Daniel G. Siegel. It is now at Brown University Library. With 190 color facsimile illustrations and a full transcript of Orwell's manuscript.

Fine condition.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
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Colophon Printed note at the end of a text containing information about the printing of the book.
Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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