A Clockwork Orange. by Burgess, Anthony - 1962

London: Heinemann, 1962. First edition of Burgess' classic novel. Octavo, original black boards, titles to spine in gilt. Signed by Anthony Burgess on the title page. Fine in a near fine first issue price-clipped dust jacket and with the wide flaps showing light wear to the spine extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed. A Clockwork Orange is a nightmare vision of the future told in its own fantastically inventive lexicon, it has since become a classic of modern literature. Roald Dahl hailed it "A terrifying and marvelous book." The cinematic adaptation of Burgess's haunting tale was accidental. Screenplay writer Terry Southern gave Stanley Kubrick a copy of the novel, but, as he was developing a Napoleon Bonaparte-related project, Kubrick put it aside. Soon afterward, however, the Bonaparte project was canceled and, sometime later, Kubrick happened upon the novel. It had an immediate impact. Of his enthusiasm for it, Kubrick said, "I was excited by everything about it: The plot, the ideas, the characters, and, of course, the language. The story functions, of course, on several levels: Political, sociological, philosophical, and, what's most important, on a dreamlike psychological-symbolic level". Kubrick wrote a screenplay faithful to the novel, saying, "I think whatever Burgess had to say about the story was said in the book, but I did invent a few useful narrative ideas and reshape some of the scenes." The film premiered in 1971 starring Malcolm McDowell with a memorable soundtrack composed by Walter Carlos.