“On the Beach” by Nevil Shute - First Edition 1957

This is a first edition of Nevil Shute’s landmark post-apocalyptic novel “On the Beach,” published by William Heinemann Ltd in 1957. This powerful and prophetic work remains one of the most significant novels of the Cold War era.
Author: Nevil Shute (Nevil Shute Norway, 1899-1960)
Title: On the Beach
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd - London, Melbourne, Toronto, Cape Town, Auckland, The Hague
Publication Date: First published 1957
Original Price: 15s. NET (as shown on dust jacket)
This first edition features the iconic dust jacket designed by John Rowland, depicting four well-dressed figures standing on a beach with long shadows cast across the sand, set against a haunting green-to-peach gradient sky. The evocative cover perfectly captures the novel’s atmosphere of quiet dread and ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.
The book is bound in red cloth boards with gold lettering on the spine.

“On the Beach” is set in 1963 Australia, where the residents await the inevitable arrival of deadly radioactive fallout from a nuclear war that has devastated the Northern Hemisphere. The novel follows a group of people in Melbourne as they come to terms with their impending doom. Shute’s masterful storytelling earned this work recognition as one of the most important and moving novels about nuclear war, later adapted into a major film in 1959 starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire.

This copy shows its age with honest wear. The dust jacket has significant edge wear, tears, and creasing, particularly at the spine ends and corners, with some loss to the spine. The jacket displays fading and discoloration. The red cloth boards are in good condition with minor shelf wear and some fading to the spine. The binding is tight and the interior pages show age-toning consistent with a 67-year-old book but remain clean and readable. A respectable reading copy of this important first edition.