The Demolished Man

Shasta Publishers, 1953. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 8x5x0. 1953 signed first edition, Shasta Publishers (Chicago, Illinois), 5 3/4 x 8 3/8 inches tall hardcover in publisher's unclipped dust jacket, red paper-covered boards over blue cloth spine, white lettering to front cover, gilt lettering to spine, top page edges blue, 250 pp. Very slight edgewear to covers, with very slight bumping to the fore edge and top edge of the front cover. Nicely signed by Alfred Bester (1913-1987) on the blank front free-endpaper. Otherwise, a very good to near fine copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a slightly soiled and edgeworn dust jacket whose spine is a bit sun-faded but which is nicely preserved and displayed in a clear archival Brodart sleeve. This first Hugo Award-winning book is rare as a signed first edition. ~O~ [1.5P] A renowned science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester, which was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. An inverted detective story, it was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, followed by this publication of the novel in 1953. In a world policed by telepaths, Ben Reich plans to commit a crime that hasn't been heard of in 70 years: murder. That's the only option left for Reich, whose company is losing a 10-year death struggle with rival D'Courtney Enterprises. Terrorized in his dreams by The Man With No Face and driven to the edge after D'Courtney refuses a merger offer, Reich murders his rival and bribes a high-ranking telepath to help him cover his tracks. But while police prefect Lincoln Powell knows Reich is guilty, his telepath's knowledge is a far cry from admissible evidence. 'One of the all-time classics of science fiction.' - Isaac Asimov; 'Alfred Bester wrote with the pedal to the floor and the headlights on full beam. His work combined erudition with an unparalleled imaginative inventiveness. Bester was writing cyberpunk while William Gibson was still running around zapping the other kids at school with a toy raygun.' - James Lovegrove