The World in Winter

Published in 1962 by Eyre & Spottiswoode, The World in Winter is one of John Christopher's lesser-known adult dystopian novels, though it shares the social preoccupations that made The Death of Grass so effective. A reduction in solar output gradually renders Britain and much of northern Europe uninhabitable, driving refugees south. The premise of climatic collapse, however, is less the subject of the novel than it is a mechanism for inverting the familiar order of the world: white British refugees end up scratching for survival in Lagos, dependent on the goodwill of Nigerians, subject to their laws, and stripped of the assumptions that once defined their place in the world. Christopher published the book at the tail end of British decolonization, and the reversal is pointed. Christopher published the book at the tail end of British decolonization, and the reversal is pointed. Written squarely in the anxieties of 1962 Britain, the racial dynamics he depicts remain genuinely unsettling.

Inscribed copy. This copy is a signed first edition, inscribed by the author (as "Sam") on the front free-endpaper: "For Bill & Joan / Sam." John Christopher was a pseudonym for Samuel Youd, and the inscription reflects his habit of signing under his given name rather than his pen name.

Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, navy cloth boards with silver lettering on spine. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962. #10609.
Page edges foxed and dusty, else near fine in dust jacket with toning and darkening along spine.