Coming Air by George Orwell, First Edition (18 results)

Condition: Fair. 1962. First Edition Thus. 232 pages. Paperback book with pictorial cover. Slight cracking to binding, pages remain attached. Pages have light tanning and foxing throughout. Previous owner's inscriptions to first page. Paper cover has mild edgewear with curling to corners. Light tanning to spine and edges with splits to spine edges.

Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. From George Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, Coming Up for Air is the classic, comic novel about the everyday struggles of the common man and a satiric look at the trappings of middle-class suburbia.George "Tubby" Bowling is a middle-aged insurance salesman, a job at which he grimly excels, dutifully paying the mortgage on an average English suburban row house, and supporting an ungrateful family. As the years roll by, he comes to feel like a hostage to his wife and children, regarding them as wardens and himself as a prisoner.One day, after winning some money from a bet at the races, George steals away from his family to visit the village where he grew up, to fish for carp in a pool he remembers from thirty years before. The pool, alas, is gone, the village has changed beyond recognition, and the principal event of his holiday is an accidental bombing by the RAFthe perfect ending to his failed escape."A work of rare vigor and imagination."New York Herald-Tribune Book Review Coming Up for Air is the classic, comic novel from George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Condition: Fine, no spine creases. Not stated, presumed 1st edition. Comic, abrasive prophetic novel. Bright tight clean unread copy. 278 pp. MM paperback in glossy color illus wraps.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Small po inscription, otherwise in great condition.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. No damage or markings to pages and only light wear to cover and dustjacket (slight scuffing to corners). 1976 Secker & Warburg hardback omnibus edition. The photo is of the actual book you will receive. Fast dispatch, normally within 24 hours, by UK seller.

Softcover. Condition: Very Good. First French edition. Translated by Claude de Leschaux. Printed wrappers. Wraps heavily foxed, small faint stain and short tear on the rear wrap, very good.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Nice condition copy of "Coming Up For Air" by GEORGE ORWELL. 1948 1st edition thus, 1st printing ("New Edition Reset"); Secker & Warburg; London. This is the first edition of the Secker "Uniform Edition." From a review: "(The book) was written between 1938 and 1939 while Orwell spent time recuperating from illness in French Morocco, mainly in Marrakesh. George Orwell's paean to the end of an idyllic era in British history, Coming Up for Air is a poignant account of one man's attempt to recapture childhood innocence as war looms on the horizon. George Bowling, forty-five, mortgaged, married with children, is an insurance salesman with an expanding waistline, a new set of false teeth - and a desperate desire to escape his dreary life. He fears modern times - since, in 1939, the Second World War is imminent - foreseeing food queues, soldiers, secret police and tyranny." Condition: The light green cloth has somewhat faded on the spine and along the edges of the covers. Sharp cover corners. Tight binding with no cracks and no loose pages. Both covers are firmly attached. Nice interior - the pages are clean and appear unread with no notable issues found. The top edge of the text block has a light gray-ish strip where the red top-stain has discolored a bit. Overall the book is in Very Good+ condition.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. First Edition. A second impression of the first edition published in June. Only 3,000 copies of the book were printed by Gollancz, with 2,000 bound up in the first impression, with the final 1,000 bound up as the second impression. This was the final novel that Orwell wrote before the outbreak of war, and was the last to be published by Victor Gollancz, as "Animal Farm" and "1984" were published by Secker & Warburg. ***A good only copy in the publisher's blue cloth-covered boards with darker blue titles to the spine. There is the remains of a Boots Library sticker affixed to the front board which explains why the binding has become so worn. The book must have been avidly read in the late 1930s and during the Second World War - there is a 30 May 1940 date stamp on the inside of the back board, perhaps indicating when it was first bought by the library. The cloth covering the boards has become quite worn with age and handling, including creasing to the head and tail of the spine, and rubbing at the corner tips. The fragile thin cloth is also splitting along the edge of the back board and spine, but is still holding well. The binding has virtually no reading lean to the casing. There is some patchy fading mainly to the spine. The page block edges are a bit grubby, with some darkening to the top edge, and foxing to the fore-edge. There appears to be a remainder mark on the bottom edge of the page block. Internally the book is quite clean, with no serious creases or tears. No inscriptions or annotations. The paper stock has very little of the usual foxing - just some light foxing to the endpapers and first and last few pages. Without the extremely scarce dustwrapper. ***285 pages. 190mm x 135mm. ***'"Coming Up for Air" is the seventh book by English writer George Orwell, published in June 1939 by Victor Gollancz. It was written between 1938 and 1939 while Orwell spent time recuperating from illness in French Morocco, mainly in Marrakesh. He delivered the completed manuscript to Victor Gollancz upon his return to London in March 1939. The story follows George Bowling, a 45-year-old husband, father, and insurance salesman, who foresees World War II and attempts to recapture idyllic childhood innocence and escape his dreary life by returning to Lower Binfield, his birthplace. The novel is comical and pessimistic, with its views that (a) speculative builders, commercialism, and capitalism are killing the best of rural England, and (b) his country is facing the sinister appearance of new, external national threats. Orwell left the manuscript at his agent's office within a few hours of arriving back in England on March 30, 1939. It was submitted to Victor Gollancz, who had an option on Orwell's next three novels, in spite of the 'cold treatment which Orwell had been given when "Homage to Catalonia" was rejected.' In fact Orwell heard in April 1939 that Gollancz had reservations about the book, and was delaying a decision to accept it. The descriptions in the novel of a character who lectures at a meeting of Gollancz's Left Book Club, and of the meeting itself, were such that Gollancz 'could not have helped being offended by them.' Nevertheless, the publisher did bring out the novel without demanding major changes and it was published on June 12, 1939. It was the last Orwell novel to bear the Gollancz imprint. The novel sold three thousand copies, a thousand of which represented a second printing.' (Wiki) ***A second impression of the true first edition of this poignant novel by George Orwell, which is scarce now in any condition in either impression. Whilst the book is in fairly worn condition, it is in the original state with no pages damaged or missing - so could be suitable as a candidate for rebinding. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.

First US Edition. Good condition. Lack dust jacket. Wear and discolouring to the boards, wear to the head and tail of the spine. Previous owners name in pencil to front fly leaf, possibly belonged to the author Joel Sayre. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Good+. First Edition. 278 pages in very good, clean condition. Pages slightly yellowed. Ex-library, with only one small stamp on the top edge, and very minor label remnants on the back free endpaper. Blue cloth with illustration on the upper cover and titles on the spine. Light wear on the edges, including some stains. Corners are a little bumped and frayed. Light stains at the two corners of the upper cover. White DJ with illustration and white titles. Small chips on corners and head of spine. Edges and lower jacket are darkened and stained. Binding tight. Not price-clipped. GOOD+/GOOD+. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First US Edition. DJ in archival cover, edge wear, price clipped.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First U.S. edition in about very good condition. Wear to the jacket at the spine ends, corners, and a few scattered stains. Price of 49?, written on flap. Surprisingly uncommon in the first USA edition.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. 1950. 278 pages. First American edition, first printing. One of only 8,000 copies printed in the first American printing. The UK edition of this title precedes the American edition by eleven years. This copy comes from the library of Dr. Willard Thorp, author, noted literary historian, editor and critic who taught at Princeton University for more than 40 years and served as the Holmes Professor of Belles-Lettres at Princeton University, and co-founded what is now their American Studies Program in 1942. The Thorp Library, at Princeton, was dedicated in 1991, and a namesake scholarship was established in his honor. Dr. Thorp signed this edition in pencil on the upper right corner of the front endpaper, including Princeton, below his signature, and the date, 17.xii'54. As for condition, the book is tight and clean. Binding and hinges are sound. Pages and endpapers are clean. The book's flaws are limited to color-fading of cloth on the front and rear panels. Original DJ with $3.00 price intact on flap. DJ shows shallow chiipping along edges with rubbing to extremities and slight age-darkening along rear. Minimal soiling. VG/VG with all flaws noted.

Hardcover. First Edition; First Printing. Very Good in a Good price clipped dust jacket. Rubbing along panel edges. Chip at spine heel.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Coming Up For Air by George Orwell,1st edition, 2nd printing, Victor Gollancz, 1939, Three thousand first editions of Coming Up For Air were sold of which a thousand were a second printing released in the same month as the first printing. This second printing copy has been professionally rebound and has a facsimile dust jacket. George Orwell's sixth novel and a scarce find. Professionally replaced blue boards with the original spine strip on the spine. The copy has clean replaced end papers. The contents of the book are lightly browned. Page 32 has a 3cm tear. A few pages have marks on them.

Hardcover. First American Edition, First Printing. Octavo, 278 pages. In Very Good minus condition with a Very Good minus condition dust jacket. Green spine with age toned white and black lettering. Dust jacket is wrapped in a mylar covering, price uncut "$3.00", has tears and creasing along the spine head and tail edges and the fore corners, mild chipping along the spine edges, closed tears along the front head and tail edges, staining and mild age toning throughout. Boards have moderate age toning, mild fraying and bending wear along the spine head and tail edges and fore corners. Textblock has stains on pages 2-11, bending wear along the head corner of page 11, a green pencil mark on page 15, a light smudge on page 53, mild wear and age toning along the edges. DL consignment. Shelved in Room C. 1392494. Special Collections.

First editions of the novels of George Orwell. Octavo, 6 volumes, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt Bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. An exceptional set, rare and desirable. George Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"â"describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practicesâ"is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.