Ray Bradbury's unique book sold in New York

At 17.5 thousand dollars, collectors appreciated a rare copy of one of the most famous futuristic novels of American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) “451 degrees Fahrenheit”.

The high price is due to the ideal condition of the book and the fact that its cover is made of refractory material based on asbestos. “At the same time, the pages in this copy are ordinary, paper, they just burn very well,” said Noah Fleischer, director of public relations at Heritage. This book is one of the first 200 copies of the novel, printed in 1953. They were all made fireproof. The remaining copies are mostly in private collections or in some organizations. They are rarely seen.”

Bradbury’s work tells the story of a totalitarian world without books. The main character of the work – Guy Montag – works as a “firefighter”. In Bradbury’s unspiritual, pleasure-oriented, material-value society, it is the profession’s job to burn banned books along with the homes where they were found.

The title of the novel, Fahrenheit 451, was chosen by Bradbury for good reason. It is at this temperature (about 233 degrees Celsius) that paper ignites. Meanwhile, the asbestos cover is not afraid of fire. This fibrous mineral has amazing properties and is used to make more than 3,000 different materials. In particular, asbestos is made of slate, pipes, brake pads and even clothes for firefighters.

Asbestos is not very popular in Western countries. Confusion due to the presence of two varieties (harmless with controlled use of chrysotile and dangerous amphibole) and all sorts of anti-scientific speculation led to a complete ban on the use of the mineral within the European Union and several other countries.

Thus, European buyers were essentially deprived of the opportunity to purchase a rare copy of the book. Even at such a high price.

Source: www.ridus.ru