Dark Carnival

Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1947 First edition, first printing, one of 3,112 copies. Signed by Bradbury on front free endpaper: "Ray Bradbury [underlined] / Dec 1, 1982". Publisher's black boards, titles in gilt to spine; original dust jacket designed by George Barrows, wraparound image with masks and other floating objects, titles in red to front panel and spine. Near fine book with touch of smudging to boards, a tiny wrinkle to bottom left of front board, and light toning to gilt on spine; very good unclipped dust jacket with some wear to edges and spine ends, a couple of small chips to spine ends, light soiling to rear panel. Overall, an attractive copy. A collection of his macabre short stories, Dark Carnival is Ray Bradbury's first published book and includes "The Small Assassin," "Jack-in-the-Box," "The Scythe," "Uncle Einar," "The Traveler," and "The Jar," among others. Additionally, it includes "The Homecoming," which Truman Capote famously discovered in a pile of submissions while working as an editor for Mademoiselle. Interestingly, Bradbury originally intended to title Dark Carnival "The Child's Garden of Terrors," which emphasized the nightmarish qualities of the collected fiction. Notably, this collection's carnival and childhood themes are personally significant to Bradbury as they both played a large role in his becoming a writer. According to his official biographer, Sam Weller, Bradbury began writing it after visiting a travelling circus that came to his town, where he met the eccentric Mr. Electrico, who cryptically instructed the young Bradbury to "live forever!" Bradbury claimed that he began writing voraciously shortly after this significant experience at the travelling circus. . Signed. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.