1984: Introduction by Julian Symons Hardcover - 1992

About this book

Summary

From the rear cover

While the totalitarianism that provoked George Orwell into writing 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' seems to be passing into oblivion, his harrowing, cautionary tale of a man trapped in a political nightmare has had the opposite fate, and its relevance and power to disturb our complacency seem to grow decade by decade.

First Edition Identification

The overall quality of the printing of this first edition is high. Some commonly found defects include missing plates, damage to the frontispiece or endpapers, and age-tanned pages. Blair died six months after publication of this, his last novel. Very rare signed copies have significant value, with some volumes priced near $10,000 USD. Because of this, numerous attempts have been made at forging the author's signature, and care should be taken to authenticate a signed copy. Unsigned first-edition first-printing British editions in mint condition can sometimes be priced in the $2,000 to $3,000 range (USD). 

The first US edition was printed by Harcourt, Brace and Company in 1949, only five days after the U.K. Edition. The UK edition first printing ran 26,575 copies, the US edition approximately 20,000. The book was an instant best seller in both Great Britain and the United States. 

Media reviews

“Nineteen Eighty-Four is a remarkable book; as a virtuoso literary performance it has a sustained brilliance that has rarely been matched in other works of its genre…It is as timely as the label on a poison bottle.” –New York Herald Tribune

“A profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book…Orwell’s theory of power is developed brilliantly.” –The New Yorker

“A book that goes through the reader like an east wind, cracking the skin…Such are the originality, the suspense, the speed of writing, and withering indignation that it is impossible to put the book down.” –V. S. Pritchett

“Orwell’s novel escorts us so quietly, so directly, and so dramatically from our own day to the fate which may be ours in the future, that the experience is a blood-chilling one.” –Saturday Review