Probably my favorite book ever is Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and it has been since I was a teenager. Perhaps I was just the right age when I first read it but Orwell’s description of a bleak dystopian landscape, epitomised by the omnipresent totalitarian ‘Big Brother’, thought crimes and the dreaded Room101 made a lasting impression on the young me.
The original book was published in 1949, but this edition (a gift from my girlfriend for my birthday) is a first edition Penguin paper back, published in 1954. The graphic design geek in me loves the design aesthetic of the Jan Tschichold/Hans Schmoller cover and the patina of age only adds to its appeal.
