New York: Alfred A. Knopf,, 1946. A masterpiece of New Journalism An excellent association copy of the Book Club edition, inscribed by all six of the survivors profiled in the book. Hersey's famous account of the experiences of six Hiroshima atomic bomb survivors "was the first significant account in English of the devastation of Hiroshima; it remains an enormously influential book, the account that introduces Hiroshima to most Western readers" (Minear, p. 7). The half-title is inscribed: "With best wishes, Wilhelm Kleinsorge, S.J.", who at the time the bomb was detonated was reading a Jesuit magazine; "Best regards to Major Mayer, Dr. M[asakazu] Fujii", who was about to read the Osaka Asahi; "Christian greeting to Major Mayer, Kiyoshi Tanimoto", who was about to unload a cart; "Please pray for many who are unfortunate and for Japan, Tosiko Sasaki", a clerk who had just sat down in her office, who also signs her name in Japanese with the date 6 August 1948 (the third anniversary of the bombing); and "Dr. Terufumi Sasaki Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital June 21, 1948", who was carrying blood for a Wassermann test. Hatsuyo Nakamura, who was standing by her kitchen window, signs her name in Japanese, also with the date 6 August 1948. The front free endpaper is additionally inscribed "Kiyoshi Tanimoto. Methodist Church". All of the above are pictured on the rear panel of the jacket. John Hersey (1914-1993) was one of the first proponents of New Journalism, which blends factual reporting with a novelistic prose style. He served as a war correspondent for Time and Life during the Second World War and became interested in the atomic bombings while covering the reconstruction of Japan. The initial publication of Hiroshima in the New Yorker is the only time that the magazine has devoted an entire issue to a single story. It remains one of the 20th-century's most significant pieces of journalism. The Book Club edition is distinguished from the first edition by the small dot to the bottom right corner of the rear cover and the absence of the "First Edition" statement on the copyright page. In both editions, copies were issued simultaneously in blue and green cloth, with no priority stated. Octavo. Original green cloth, spine and front cover lettered in dark red, Borzoi Books device to rear cover in same. With dust jacket. Bookseller's ticket of Fountaine Books, Ohio, to rear pastedown. Extremities a little rubbed, contents clean, some instances of clear and paper tape on covers and jacket, with subsequent slight loss to lettering and offset, its removal at jacket extremities affecting price and text on front flap and bottom edge of front panel, unclipped: a very good copy in good only jacket. Richard M. Minear, ed. & trans., Hiroshima: Three Witnesses, 1990.
