![]() At the pub with a pint in hand, I flicked through the volume, careful not to spill beer on it, expecting it to be identical to the June 1949 first impression. Only 5570 copies of this impression had been printed, compared with 26,575 of the more highly sought-after first impression, copies of which can fetch many thousands of dollars. ![]() ![]() This was like finding a Vermeer in the back of a suburban junk shop. To my surprise, I discovered it was no ordinary copy but an extremely rare second impression of the first edition, published in March 1950. Probably worthless, I thought, but opened it, with one eye on the clock, determined not to be late. ![]() Under "O" in the fiction section, I saw an old hardback copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four. On the way from the railway station, I happened past the local Oxfam books and music shop, and, being early, popped in, not expecting to find anything much. I'd spent a beautiful late summer's day in Oxfordshire researching George Orwell's childhood and had arranged to meet a friend in my favourite English pub, The Three Tuns. ![]() In 2012, I had one of those experiences about which every book collector dreams. ![]()
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