Fahrenheit 451 (Asbestos Binding) by Bradbury, Ray - 1953

New York: Ballantine Books, Inc, 1953. First edition. Near Fine. A Fine copy of the author's masterpiece, in the rare asbestos binding. One of approximately 200 copies (although a letter from Bradbury suggests the number was closer to 215), this copy number 93. In Very Good+ to Near Fine condition with a hairline crack at the lower front joint (running about an inch), slight bumps to corners, but a clean, unread copy. (And a quick note about the crack: we have opted not to repair the binding, but the repair could easily be done and we would be happy to send to our bindery, at our expense, should the prospective purchaser wish.) Bradbury's most famous work, about a dystopian future where books are banned - and burned. "Fahrenheit 451" appears on the New York Public Library's list of books of the century and won the 1954 American Academy of Letters Award in Arts and Literature. Though the book is thought to be a comment on the political culture and McCarthyism at the time of its publication, the work also grew out of a number of ideas and themes Bradbury had explored in a few of his earlier published short stories. The book would later be adapted into a 1966 film directed by Francois Truffaut, which was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In a contemporary review in The Chicago Sunday Tribune, writer August Derleth called the book "a savage and shockingly prophetic view of one possible future way of life…compelling.". Near Fine.