A Clockwork Orange
”There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening...”
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of one of the classics of the 20th century.
“Like 1984, this is a book in which an entire social order is implied through language. And what language! To hint at the vile universe of the 15-year-old delinquent Alex and his murderous buddies, Burgess created ‘nadsat,’ a rich futuristic patois. ‘Sinny’ for ‘cinema.’ ‘Viddy’ for ‘see,’ ‘horrorshow’ for ‘good’ — from the Russian, khorosho, which gives you some idea of which political system has prevailed. The words locate him in a world of corrupted values, violence and boundless infantile indulgence. (His drug is ‘milk plus.’) When Alex is apprehended by the authorities and subjected to psychological conditioning to make him nauseated at any impulse towards violence, Burgess’s book becomes a meditation on whether a world in which evil can be freely chosen might still be preferable to one in which goodness is compelled. Stanley Kubrick’s coldly magnificent ‘sinny’ adaptation has sometimes threatened to overshadow this great novel. Don’t let it happen” (Richard Lacayo, All-Time 100 Novels).
The basis for the classic 1971 Stanley Kubrick film and with a final chapter that was omitted from US editions until 1986. First Issue: with black cloth binding and dust jacket with “16S NET” price and wider flaps.
London: Heinemann, 1962. Octavo, original black cloth, original pictorial dust jacket by Barry Trengrove. Small ownership signature on front free endpaper. Book fine; dust jacket with mild fading to spine (as often), nearly invisible repaired closed tear near base of spine. An excellent copy of one of the most influential novels of the century.
Price: $3,800 .