ATWOOD, Margaret ~ The Handmaid’s Tale.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Jonathan Cape, London: 1986.

8vo., black publisher's boards, lettered in gilt to spine with publisher's device to foot; complete in the original pictorial dustwrapper, featuring the striking artwork by Fred Marcellino, and a black and white photograph of the author to the rear flap by Jerry Bauer; THE BOOK a very good plus to near-fine copy, with the light even toning to the paperstock, as is common for this title; a little pushed to spine tips; THE WRAPPER in a similar condition, with a few tiny nicks, marks and spots, but otherwise retaining all of its original colour. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, first printing. The novel previously appeared in the author's native Canada in 1985. Atwood's breakthrough novel, an enduring tale set in a future dystopian society in which one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred, is assigned to a Commander in order to produce children. In the new Republic of Gilead, the United States Government has been overthrown, and 'handmaids' are treated as property for the ruling classes. Atwood has cited a series of influences for the book, including Chaucer (from which the title was taken), the Islamic Revolution in Iran (which hugely impacted the rights of women), and her study of American Puritans while she was studying at Harvard. However in another interview she stated that the changing of attitudes towards women which she had experienced in the 1980s meant that "I didn't put in anything that we haven't already done, we're not already doing, we're seriously trying to do, coupled with trends that are already in progress". The book won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. It was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. A sequel, 'The Testaments', was published in 2019, where it jointly won the Booker Prize. 'The Handmaid's Tale' has also been adapted into a hugely popular television series by Bruce Miller, which first aired in 2017. Increasingly elusive.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine