Bradbury (1957) with Dust Jacket & Air Force Provenance

Step into summer—1950s small-town Illinois summer—with this rare first edition of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, wrapped in the amber light of nostalgia and the flickering shadows of memory. Published in 1957 by Doubleday & Company, this hardcover copy includes the original dust jacket (priced $3.95), now lovingly protected in an archival wrapper.

The jacket shows honest wear: fraying at the edges, a watermark on the front, and the ghost of a removed library stamp from the spine—evidence of a life well-lived. The dandelion-yellow boards have mellowed with time, but their charm remains. The pages are hand-cut, their top edge still faintly stained gold, echoing the book’s namesake beverage—bottled sunshine, captured time. And nestled there, barely visible, a U.S. Air Force stamp, hinting at a hidden chapter in this book’s journey: perhaps it once lived in a base library, passed from one airman to another, a balm against homesickness, a reminder of earthbound joys.

Inside, more Air Force library stamps and a rear endpaper pocket confirm this history, along with a penciled cataloging note on the copyright page—a collector’s quiet nod.

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📚 Dandelion Wine: A Philosophical Toast to Childhood and Mortality

Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine isn’t a traditional novel—it’s a tapestry of vignettes, stitched from his own childhood memories in Waukegan, Illinois. Through the eyes of twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding, we glimpse the wonder and fear of being alive: the first shoes of summer, the death of a neighbor, the magic of grandparents, and the slow dawning of mortality.

It’s Bradbury’s most personal work, a celebration of everyday enchantments and the ache of time passing. Like the Air Force men who might have read it on quiet nights, far from home, Dandelion Wine offers a grounding force: a reminder that joy can be found in the ordinary, and that memory is a kind of immortality.

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⚠️ Why Has Dandelion Wine Been Challenged?

Although not as frequently targeted as Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine has occasionally appeared on school challenge lists for themes of death, alcohol (the titular wine), and mature reflections on aging and loss. According to the American Library Association and documented cases, some parents objected to its melancholic tone or felt it too philosophical for younger readers (ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom; see: Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds, N. Karolides et al., 1999).

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✨ Why It Endures

In a world rushing toward the future, Dandelion Wine tells us to pause, sip, and remember. It remains an essential American novel not because it shouts, but because it listens—to the hush of twilight, to the ticking of a summer clock, to the bittersweet bloom of growing up.

Pair that with its Air Force provenance, and this copy becomes more than a book—it’s a piece of cultural and personal history, a bridge between imagination and real-world memory. Whether you’re a Bradbury collector, a veteran, or a lover of literary time capsules, this first edition offers something uniquely powerful: a bottle of summer, aged to perfection.

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Details:

Title: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

First Edition, 1957 (Copyright 1957), Doubleday, New York

Original Dust Jacket with $3.95 price intact (edge wear, watermark, archival wrapper added)

Dandelion-yellow boards; faded, with matching topstain

Hand-cut pages

Faint U.S. Air Force stamp on top edge; more stamps and library pocket inside

Handwritten collector's note in pencil on copyright page

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Let this book remind you: eternity hides in small things—and sometimes in forgotten library shelves on distant airfields.