Dark Carnival

Ray Bradbury's first book was the short story collection Dark Carnival issued in 1947 by Arkham House in the United States. These short stories set the tone for Bradbury's future work. His eerie, sometimes disturbing stories typify Arkham House books, and give us some insight into the young Bradbury.This book reprinted many stories previously published by Bradbury in Weird Tales of November 1944 (such as "The Jar"), and other pulp magazines of the era. Several stories saw print for the first time in this edition, however. 

Signed copies of the first edition sell in the $2,000 to $5,000 range if of high quality. Only a little over 3,000 copies of this book were initially printed. The book as such was never reprinted, though individual stories were reissued occasionally. The author refused to allow reprints until a limited edition was issued with new stories and a new introduction by the author by Gauntlet Press in 2001.  Because of the unique nature of this book, it continues to become more highly sought after. The high quality of Arkham House publishing limits problems with the quality of this book, with scuffing and minor tears the most common flaw seen.