Doubleday & Company, New York, 1950
Stated First Edition, First Printing, Signed Clean, crisp near fine condition book and near fine dust jacket. Ray Bradbury Boldly Signed and dated the front free end paper with an early, long and very personal inscription “For Hank- / With my sincere Best Wishes For Your Success In Any Artistic Field You Enter – / Good Luck! / From Ray Bradbury / Aug 28, 1951” . Please see image of the copyright page. The true first edition of this title must have the first edition statement.
The book is in near fine condition with light green boards and dark red titles to spine. The book has a hint of the common toning to the spine cloth. The boards have sharp corners with one extremely tiny tip bump, and no edgewear. The binding is tight and square. Boldly signed, inscribed and by Ray Bradbury on the front end paper in felt tip “For Hank- / With my sincere Best Wishes For Your Success In Any Artistic Field You Enter – / Good Luck! / From Ray Bradbury / Aug 28, 1951” . The front paste down has a very artistic small bookplate design but there is no name or even a place for a name so this may have been a sampling of the owners artwork, this currently is located on the front paste down of the book which is partially hidden behind the front flap of the dust jacket. The internal pages are clean, bright and flat with No marks, No writing, No stains, No smudges, No inscriptions, No bent pages and No foxing. Beautiful clean book internally appearing as unread. Please see detailed images.
The original first edition dust jacket has benefited from some very slight restoration by an expert paper conservator to the very outer spine tips, and as such and presents as a near fine example. The jacket has strong vibrant colors with no edgewear, no rips, no chips, no tears, no rubbing, no fading and no foxing. The jacket is NOT price clipped and has a stated price of $2.50. The jacket is now protected in a new clear removable archival cover. Please see detailed images.
A very handsome example of this scarce Bradbury title with an extraordinary inscription.
