Books

Ballantine, 1955. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A stunning fine first edition in a fine dust jacket with no fading of the red lettering. Very rare as such. First State, with the "BB" monogram on spine of book inverted, red cloth with black lettering on spine, 8vo, 306pp. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper. 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).