The Midwich Cuckoos
By John Wyndham
 
First edition, first impression: London: Michael Joseph, 1957.
 
Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With the original red and cream pictorial dust jacket designed by Dick Hart, priced 13s 6d net to the foot of the front flap.
 
The binding is square and firm, with a couple of knocks and associated shallow impressions to lower board. Internally clean and sound, the paper evenly toned as usual for the period showing a few spots to edges and some off-setting and browning to endpapers and paste-downs, with no inscriptions or marks of note.
 
The dust jacket is complete and unrestored, showing general age-toning and light soiling in places, with a few small tears to top edge and a little spotting to verso. The red remains strong, the lettering clear, and the price intact; overall a very good example.
 
The Midwich Cuckoos is one of Wyndham’s most enduring works, a chilling and influential exploration of alien intrusion and social conformity, later adapted to film as Village of the Damned. The striking Dick Hart jacket is among the most recognisable in post-war British science fiction.