Brave New World

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

HUXLEY, Aldous. Brave New World. London: Chatto & Windus, 1932.

Finely-bound first edition, first printing of the author's classic novel which prophesised a society expecting maximum pleasure and accepting complete surveillance, no matter what the cost. Together with an Autograph Letter Signed (ALS) and authograph envelope, hand-written and signed by the author Aldous Huxley to the German autograph collector Ernst Katz of Frankfurt am Mein, thanking him for a letter sent on Christmas Day. The letter, dated January 1931, was sent from Huxley’s residence in Sanary-sur-Mer, France; the same place where, just a few months later, he would write Brave New World.

Striking Designer Binding of Huxley's Famous Novel

Recently rebound by Rosy Gray, owner of the Black Cat Bindery, a traditional craft bookbindery based in the heart of Somerset, UK. Strikingly bound in full Gambetta fine-grain goatskin leather from Harmatan and Oakridge, in a deep midnight-blue tone, and blocked with a mirroring design in contrasting white that subtly recalls the colours of the first-edition dust wrapper. Drawing directly on the central themes of Brave New World—artificial reproduction, mechanisation, and systemic control—the dark, restrained binding provides a stark ground for fine white line work: a continuous, thread-like line runs across each board and onto the turn-ins, giving rise to interlocking cogwheels. Embedded within these wheels are fetuses, an unsettling visual reference to the novel’s factories of reproduction and the industrialisation of human life itself; birth and individuality are presented as outputs of a system rather than acts of nature. The spine is intentionally minimal, with the title set vertically in clean, modern lettering. The binding is completed with hand-sewn blue and white endbands, a dark-blue marker ribbon, and beautiful Chiyogami endpapers. The book is slightly tanned to the closed text block, with a small amount of foxing to prelims and throughout, and a couple of very tiny smudges on a handful of pages; else an uninscribed book in lovely, clean condition throughout.

Housed in a bespoke solander case made by the same binder, bound in black cloth with the same design blind-embossed to the panels and spine, edged with matching Chiyogami paper and lined in soft suedel. Nestled within the clamshell is a cloth portfolio containing the author’s Autograph Letter Signed (4to, 210 × 270 mm), one page, with its original autograph envelope (145 × 115 mm). The letter is folded twice and shows the original fold lines and light tanning; the envelope is a bit worn and chipped, and has a few light smudges. The letter, dated January 1931, was sent from Huxley’s residence in Sanary-sur-Mer, France; the same place where, just a few months later, he would write Brave New World.

An elegant and quietly disturbing rebind, rich in symbolism drawn directly from the novel, accompanied by a letter from the author.

Huxley's 'Brave New World' meditates on the negative consequences of eliminating unhappiness, and turned the author into one of the most famous novelists of the inter-war period.