Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1964
First Edition, First Printing, First State First State book and jacket in the exceedingly scarce blue cloth variant. First edition, first printing boards with an embossed title image to front. Requisite 6 line colophon located on the last page in the ‘About The Author’ Section. The Chocolate Factory was first published in September of 1964 and there were subsequent printings in October and December of the same year. The accepted point of identification of a first print Charlie is the inclusion of the paper manufacturer in the colophon. Not commonly known is that there are two versions that contain this statement; a version with red boards that most people know and another very rare version that has blue boards, often considered the holy grail for the collector of Roald Dahl of which we have only seen about a half dozen copies show to the market in the last 20 years.
Exceedingly scarce blue cloth variant first edition, first printing boards with an embossed title image to front. Strong vibrant gilt titles to spine. The boards are in clean condition with have slight mottling/discoloration to the front. Otherwise the book has no edgewear, and the binding is tight and square. The mustard colored end papers are in clean condition with slight left over residue from what was likely once a bookplate, otherwise No owner names, No inscriptions, and No bookplates. The internal pages are very crisp, bright, and clean for this title with no writing, no marks, no scribbles, no stains, no bent pages, no age toning and no foxing. Beautiful copy of a children’s book in hard to find condition, internally appearing as unread! Please see images.
The original First edition, First State dust jacket benefited from very slight professional restoration to the spine ends, and as such presents in near fine condition. The dust jacket is NOT price clipped jacket and has a stated price of $3.95. The jacket has vibrant colors with no rips, no chips, no edgewear, and no foxing, and only very slight overall toning. Please see the detailed images. The dust jacket does NOT have the ISBN to the rear panel (as required for the first state of this title).
A very handsome, clean copy of this title in the very rare blue boards, with a lovely unclipped dust jacket. Presents well on the shelf. A well priced clean, crisp example having received a large discount for its some of the slight mottling to the boards. Otherwise this book would be price at $11,000.
