George Orwell

ORWELL, George (1903-1950). Animal Farm. A Fairy Story. London: Secker and Warburg, 1945.

First edition of arguably the most powerful satirical novel of the 20th century. Animal Farm sprang from Orwell's personal experience of the Soviet communists during the Spanish Civil War. Although written swiftly between November 1943 and February 1944, Animal Farm was not published until 1945. Orwell initially offered the work to Victor Gollancz, to whom he was contracted, but—as Orwell had predicted—Gollancz rejected it on political grounds because it was perceived as too overt a criticism of Britain's Soviet Allies and did not accord with Gollancz's personal pro-Soviet sympathies. Several other publishers rejected the book, including Jonathan Cape and Faber and Faber, before it was accepted by Secker and Warburg. Fenwick A.10a.

Octavo. Original green cloth boards, titles to spine in white (extremities faintly rubbed, minor splitting at hinges); original dust-jacket (head of spine slightly frayed, light wear, a few spots, minor tanning and short closed tears to edges).