31st December 2022 by
An Obituary and Eulogy
The Second British Edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four
*
The second edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four was put in hand six months after the book was first published in June 1949. Between the planning, though, and the appearance of the printed copies George Orwell died in University College Hospital, London, on January 21st 1950. Consequently the dust-jacket of the British edition became the bearer of an obituary and eulogies from his peers (see Richard Young’s detailed comment below).
Exemplified by this surviving copy, the front remained unchanged.
The back, though, informed readers of Orwell’s death, and bore tributes from friends and reviewers.
*
Thanks Les. Actually that jacket remained unchanged until the 5th impression in 1951, although the typo on the third line of the Guardian review was corrected, and the impression number on the rear flap was updated for each impression. After the 1951 edition the book was not reprinted until 1954 when it appeared in the drab format of the uniform edition. However the 8th impression in 1955 had stills from the film version on the jacket. However my favourite jacket is the Denis Piper design which first appeared on the 1959 edition, and was retained for several impressions in the 1960s. Sadly most of the copies with Piper jackets were destined for libraries, so very few survive in nice condition. Indeed any of Secker reprints from the 1950s or 60s in nice condition are far scarcer than the first edition, which after all had more than 25,000 copies.
Thank you for the correction. There is a biography of Denis Piper here https://www.letterpressproject.co.uk/inspiring-older-readers/2022-02-27/denis-pip-piper-further-reflections with covers of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
More of Piper’s Orwell covers here: https://www.letterpressproject.co.uk/inspiring-older-readers/2018-11-14/classic-covers-denis-pipers-artwork-for-george-orwells-novels.