H. F. Parkinson They Shall Not Die rare 1939 signed 1st DJ & proof Sci-fi

They Shall Not Die & Immune proof copy. 277 pages + 4 of ads. Inscribed by the author to the front endpaper: for J.

The book is firmly bound in clean light brown cloth lettered in blue to the spine, the extremities are a little bumped and rubbed. The text block is slightly toned, foxed and dusty, the colour frontispiece, replicating the jacket artwork, is present and in good order. The dust jacket is the original, it is price clipped, slightly grubby and rubbed, and there are some small chips and short closed tears to the edges, some neatly repaired to the reverse with small pieces of thin paper archival tape. The book was originally titled'Immune', with a note to the front explaining that "A last minute change has been made in the title of this novel", evidently too late for the printer; the original title appears at the top of every page. Demonstrating the truth of this is a proof copy, with the original title hand corrected in green ink to the blue covers and the title page.

A note to the front endpaper indicates that it was the Evening Standard's proof copy, presumably sent to them for review, with a pencil note indicating the retail price of the book and what was probably the intended publication date of "Jan 19th". The proof copy is firmly bound in blue wraps titled in black, with a red cloth spine strip giving the original title in ink, the covers are slightly marked, rubbed and creased. The text block is slightly toned and foxed with some dog-eared pages. A science fiction novel, the plot revolves around the discovery of a serum which causes immortality, administered unthinkingly to the human race at large as a cure to all ills in pursuit of monetary gain, without thought to the consequences, which include sterility. It is rare, particularly so signed and in the dust jacket, and it is pleasing to have the accompanying proof copy.