London: Arthur Barker, 1979. First / First. Hardback. A very good copy in a good only jacket. This is the first hardback edition, preceded by the Pan paperback. This is the first state of the jacket, with the Capricorn One ad to the rear. The jacket is good only, with fading to the spine, edge wear, some looseness and creasing. A couple of chips and tears and some toning. The book is bumped to the spine tips and corners. Looks to have been trimmed too. The number 42, "Don't Panic", Marvin the Paranoid Android are all things that have seeped deep into popular culture. The book started as a BBC radio series in 1978 before Douglas Adams turned it into a novel in 1979 (Pan), and it basically invented a whole flavour of British comedy sci-fi that didn't really exist before. The plot follows Arthur Dent — an ordinary bloke in a dressing gown — who survives the destruction of Earth (to make way for a bypass, naturally) and ends up hitchhiking around a baffling, bureaucratic, and very silly universe. What made it work was Adams' voice, a blend of cosmic despair and deadpan absurdity that still makes you feel better about the meaningless of everything against the backdrop of space. It spawned four sequels, a TV series, a Hollywood film, a towel day (May the 25th), and a decent vocabulary. Genuinely one of those rare books that changed the cultural weather. Very Good / Good. Item #13331