Books

First Edition. Very Good. Early, unattributed and bibliographically unknown Czech samizdat edition of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four. Carbon copy sheets printed on rectos only, bound in cloth covered boards with white plastic brads. (2), 2-205 [p. 15 mis-paginated: 16.]. Very Good with light soiling to covers. First and last several pages are worn and damaged, with no loss to text. Pages sporadically stained throughout. A relic of dissident activity from the Communist-controlled Eastern Bloc, wherein individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications or "samizdat," often by hand, circulating these documents from reader to reader. The perfect novel to be found in samizdat format: Nineteen Eighty-Four was banned and prohibited to be published in communist countries for its strongly anti-totalitarian message.

"1984" is a dystopian novel set in a totalitarian society ruled by a party led by the enigmatic figure, Big Brother. The story revolves around Winston Smith, a disillusioned man working for the Party whose job involves altering historical records to align with the Party's propaganda. Winston secretly harbors dissenting thoughts against the oppressive regime and begins a forbidden love affair with Julia, a fellow rebel. As they engage in acts of rebellion and attempt to challenge the Party's control, they are drawn into a web of surveillance, manipulation, and betrayal. The novel explores themes of censorship, surveillance, the nature of truth, the dangers of totalitarianism, and the resilience of the human spirit against oppressive regimes.

The first edition can be identified by the publisher Secker & Warburg and the publication date of 8 June 1949, as well as the absence of a dust jacket that later variation contained. The first edition was published in both RED and GREEN jackets at the same time. It is considered that the red jacket is the more collectible as it was seemingly printed in a smaller quantity than the green jacket.