Books

Ballantine Books, 1955. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A fine first edition, first issue, in a fine first issue dust jacket (with the upside-down "BB" on the spine). Housed in a custom-made collector's slipcase.

'The October Country' is a 1955 collection of nineteen macabre short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. It reprints fifteen of the twenty-seven stories of his 1947 collection Dark Carnival, and adds four more of his stories. Each story is accompanied by a macabre illustration by Joseph Mugnaini. The stories in this collection touch on the themes of the autumn season, dealing with the fantastical, the weird, and the melancholic, conjuring the essence of October and its mix of anticipation and apprehension.

The true first edition of 'The October Country' published by Ballantine Books can be identified by looking for the absence of additional print run information on the copyright page and the correct date (1955).