Dandelion Wine and Summer Morning, Summer Night Deluxe Gift Set

5B Ray Bradbury, Introduction in Dandelion Wine by Stephen King. Great Britain, 2007. Dandelion Wine Signed by Ray Bradbury and Stephen King.

Notes

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury is a nostalgic, semi-autobiographical novel that captures the magic and wonder of summer through the eyes of twelve-year-old Doug Spaulding, living in the small town of Green Town, Illinois, in 1928. The story is a reflection on the passage of time, childhood innocence, and the contrast between the fleeting beauty of summer and the inevitable realities of life. Doug’s experiences, from picking dandelions to facing the darker aspects of life, are intertwined with vivid descriptions of a world filled with warmth, joy, and subtle sadness. The novel explores themes of memory, the cycle of life, and the search for meaning in everyday moments.

Summer Morning, Summer Night is a collection of short stories that expands on the world Bradbury created in Dandelion Wine. It captures more vignettes from Green Town, focusing on various characters and moments in their lives during the summer. The stories reflect Bradbury’s trademark poetic style and his exploration of universal themes such as childhood, nostalgia, and the passage of time. While Dandelion Wine is a more cohesive novel, Summer Morning, Summer Nightserves as a complementary companion, delving deeper into the emotional landscape of small-town life and offering new perspectives on the events and characters first introduced in Dandelion Wine. Both works are filled with the magic of summer, though Summer Morning, Summer Night has a more fragmented structure, emphasizing the fleeting nature of the season and the human experience.

Ray Bradbury and Stephen King shared a deep mutual respect and friendship that spanned many years, with both authors admiring each other's work. Bradbury, known for his poetic and fantastical storytelling, greatly influenced King, who often cited him as an inspiration for his own writing, particularly in the realm of horror, the supernatural, and the human experience. King admired Bradbury's ability to evoke powerful emotions through seemingly ordinary moments, a quality that would shape much of King’s work as well.

In honor of the 50th anniversary edition of Dandelion Wine, Stephen King wrote a heartfelt introduction, where he reflects on how much Bradbury’s work, particularly Dandelion Wine, influenced his own development as a writer. King praises Bradbury for his ability to craft stories that celebrate the beauty of life and childhood while simultaneously exploring darker and more poignant aspects of human existence. King also acknowledges the profound impact Bradbury had on the genre, especially in terms of making the fantastical and the ordinary coexist harmoniously. His contribution to the anniversary edition was a tribute to Bradbury’s legacy and the lasting influence of Dandelion Wine on contemporary literature. King's admiration for Bradbury's ability to write about the human condition with both nostalgia and wisdom comes through clearly in his tribute, making it a meaningful addition to the milestone edition of the novel.

Description

Dandelion Wine: pictorial hardcover with white lettering on the spine and pictorial dust jacket. First flyleaf with signatures of Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. Images throughout. Pristine condition. 

Summer Morning, Summer Night: read canvas hardcover with yellow lettering on the spine. Pictorial yellow dust jacket with green spine. Some images throughout. Pristine condition. 

Comes housed in a deluxe edition red canvas box set with yellow lettering on the spine. Five hundred of these made with only one hundred copies signed by both Ray Bradbury and Stephen King.