High Rise by J.G. Ballard first edition 1975

London: Jonathan Cape, 1975
 
8vo., blue boards lettered in gilt to spine with publisher’s device to foot; upper edge stained blue; in the iconic unclipped dustwrapper (£2.95 net) featuring a design of a block of flats by Craig Dodd; pp. [viii], 7-204, [ii]; aside from a very mild bruise to spine foot, and tiny splash marks to upper edge, a near-fine example in the near-fine dust jacket with the odd tiny spot and crease. 
 
First edition. 
 
High Rise was J. G. Ballard’s eighth novel, following the success of Crash (1973) and Concrete Island (1974), both of which incorporated similar themes of technological advancement and the ways in which it affected the human psyche. Ballard was born in Shanghai in 1930, and experienced conflict from a young age with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. After the Battle of Hong Kong, he and his family were sent to an internment camp, where they lived in G Block for the remainder of the Second World War. These childhood experiences undoubtedly influenced his later writing, with many of his later works being set in mazes, bunkers, or here, in apartment blocks: “The reassuring stage-set that everyday reality in the suburban West presents to us is torn down; you see the ragged scaffolding, and then you see the truth beyond that, and it can be a frightening experience", he later claimed. 
 
High Rise begins with the chilling opening lines “Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months”, and follows a group of 2000 people living in a 40 storey tower block. As the novel develops, power outages and petty disagreements see the residents descend into a series of ever-escalating raids, acts of vandalism, and ultimately barbaric violence. 
 
In 2015, the book was turned into a successful film starring  Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, and Elisabeth Moss in lead roles.