MAO TSE-TUNG. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung [Beijing], Central Intelligence Bureau of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, 1964.
12mo. Original printed wrappers (repaired tear, crinkled and with discolouration, inside of front wrapper partially backed with initial blank); pp. [viii, half-title in red, title-page in green and red, photogravure portrait of Mao in sepia, one page of calligraphy after Lin Biao in the first, uncorrected state], 250; ink spot to p. 89, otherwise a few very minor spots here and there only.
This is the first edition, first issue, of what was to become known later as The Little Red Book, as it was issued for the masses when the Cultural Revolution was launched in 1966 and dominated the PRC's politics for the next ten years. This first issue contains Lin Biao's calligraphic endorsement, which was in later states corrected. After the death by accident of Mao's proposed successor Li Biao, decorated general, leader of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, who had been accused of an assassination plot against the Chairman, his calligraphic endorsement was dropped in its entirety. This first edition was destined only for high-ranking officers and only in 1966 it went viral in its iconic flexible red vinyl cover.
Together with: The red vinyl edition in English, imprint dated 1966 (most likely a later printing of the first edition with unchanged date); calligraphy page excised.
'It's an icon of China and communism as well as a work of propaganda. More than a billion copies have been published, making the book, often wrapped in its distinctive vinyl cover, one of the most widely produced of all time. During China's "Cultural Revolution" it became virtually mandatory to own and carry one … Originally produced in 1964 by the People's Liberation Army - an early version was titled 200 Quotations from Chairman Mao - it soon became a key feature of the leader's personality cult. The Ministry of Culture aimed to distribute a copy to every Chinese citizen and hundreds of new printing houses were built in order to achieve this. Mao himself reportedly liked its resemblance to books of quotations by philosophers such as Confucius' (BBC News Magazine, online).
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