THE HANDMAID'S TALE - UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY IN TRIAL DUSTJACKET
London: Jonathan Cape, [1985-1986]. First U.K. Edition. Atwood's chilling dystopian novel, set in "a world ruled by militaristic fundamentalists in which sexual pleasure is forbidden. Conception and childbirth have become difficult and the handmaid of the title belongs to a special breeding stock. The story is annotated by a historian of the future, whose shape is not revealed" (Barron, Anatomy of Wonder 4-31). Winner of the Governor General's Award, the first Arthur C. Clarke Award, and a nominee for both the 1986 Booker Prize and Nebula Award. Basis for Volker Schlöndorff's 1990 film adaptation, starring Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Duvall, as well as the Emmy Award-winning TV miniseries on HULU. Uncommon in the proof state, especially in the dustjacket. Item #6364
First Impression, with preliminary leaf giving a provisional publication date of 13 March 1986. Octavo (22.5cm); original red printed card wrappers; dustjacket; [12],13-324pp. Tiny bump and attendant tear at crown, faint crease to lower left corner of rear wrapper, affecting the last 50 pages, else clean throughout; Near Fine, with a pair of complimentary slips from CVBC Services Ltd. laid in. In an attractive example of the trial dustjacket designed by Ian Hands, which prints "PROOF ONLY – Provisional Publication Date June 13 1986" on rear flap, and photographic portrait of Atwood and a blurb from The Times on verso; unclipped (priced £8.95), with light wear and a few faint creases to extremities, a few faint foxed spots to lower front panel, and a corresponding tear and some associated wrinkling at crown; Very Good+.
Price: $2,000.00