Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (Bookshop|Amazon) takes its title from the temperature at which book pages burn. Some 200 copies of the first edition of the book were bound with an unusual material: asbestos. A few are still available online for a hefty price. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Asbestos 451: 200 Copies of “Fahrenheit 451” Bound in Fireproof Material”
Fahrenheit 451 is Ray Bradbury’s most famous work and it’s about a dystopian future where
Books are banned and burned of course and the title refers to the temperature at which book
Paper catches fire and burns. What I didn’t know until recently is that this book published in 1953
Included a run of 200 copies that were actually bound in asbestos. That is amazing. Where would
They find those? I guess those would be rare and prized in collectors. Funny you should say that.
Yeah, yeah. They’re at least $10,000. They usually go for between $10,000 and $20,000. So you can find
These online, but I can’t imagine that they’re legal. No. I don’t know about legal, but there’s
Certainly something you don’t want to lick. Yeah. Yeah. I would think you would want to pay to get
Rid of them, but what do I know? But a book about book burning certainly is a curiosity to begin
With. And then the one that happens to be such a great work on top of it is another plus. And then
You do a stunt like that. Well, right away, you’re talking about something even better.
Yeah, it’s made me want to go back and read that, so I just might.
