Saturday, October 19, 2013

It was sixty years ago today...

On this day in 1953,  Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451 was published. Strictly speaking, that first edition was a collection of short stories rather than a novel, since it contained not only the title work but two other pieces of short fiction: "The Playground" and "And The Rock Cried Out". Later editions would drop the shorter pieces, allowing 451 to stand on its own.

To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary, as I have reported previously, Simon and Schuster have put out a special edition of the book with new cover art - and with lots of new critical back matter compiled by Jon Eller. Here you will find Jon's account of the origins of Fahrenheit 451, contemporary reviews, and comments on the work from various notables from the book's sixty-year existence. The book also has a new introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Watch out for the remarkably short-sighted lack of promotion from S&S, though. Even their website makes no mention of the substantial content added to this edition, and they didn't even bother giving it a new ISBN number!

2 comments:

JimmyLee67 said...

Phil, First, Thank you for the excellent blog and related website you maintain on the Master of prose, Ray Bradbury. The extras that are included in the 60th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 are in themselves worth the price of this book. Keep up you're outstanding coverage of all things Ray. Live Forever!

Phil said...

Thanks, James. I agree with you about the extras, they make this edition worth buying.