Ever wanted to peer over George Orwell’s shoulder as he crafted one of the most chilling visions of the future? This facsimile edition of his original Nineteen Eighty-Four manuscript lets you do just that.
In the margins, you can see his mind working: crossed-out lines, rewritten phrases, even entire paragraphs restructured. The physicality of it is intense ~ this wasn’t typed and backspaced, it was scratched out in pen, built line by line in longhand while Orwell battled illness and isolation on the Isle of Jura.
Holding this book feels like holding a piece of literary archaeology especially because it’s one of the few surviving Orwell manuscripts – he destroyed or lost many of them. The original is held by the John Hay Library at Brown University in the US, this a facsimile of that, it’s an artefact of literary and cultural power. It’s basically the blueprint for modern dystopia.
There doesn’t seem to be a copy of this beautifully reproduced facsimile on Amazon right now, but here’s a link to a few lovely version’s of the novel, you can really help me out by buying through this link as i could get a small commission.
Amazon affiliate link for a clothbound classic
Amazon affiliate Jura Edition
Amazon affiliate link to paperback version
Amazon affiliate link to hardback edition
Amazon affiliate link to George Orwell boxset
I could be persuaded to part with mine.
This is more than a collector’s piece ~ it’s a keyhole into the soul of a writer whose warnings feel more urgent than ever.
Please check out my other blogs, here’s one on mushroom books, and if you’re feeling especially sorry for this micro business in this difficult economic climate please consider using my Amazon Affiliate link if you are purchasing from them instead of me… and this applies to everything not just books.
If you want to look at my current catalogue it’s on Abe but bear in mind this is a tiny fraction of my stock as it’s not humanly possible to list it all.
Feel free to contact me if you are looking for special items that maybe more ephemeral.
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