This page is recommended for students and educators.
British first edition of George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945)
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell. Complete novel.
About Animal Farm. Includes: Background information on novel, plot summary, character details, etc.
Quotes from Animal Farm.
The Freedom of the Press. Proposed preface by Orwell which was not included in the final edition of the novel in 1945. First published in the TLS in 1972.
Preface to the Ukrainian translation of Animal Farm. Autobiographical document from 1947 by Orwell meant for foreign readers of his novel.
Letters by George Orwell with Animal Farm references in them:
To Leonard Moore (Orwell’s literary agent) on 6 December 1943. Very early reference to Animal Farm as it was being written.
To Philip Rahv (a founder and editor of Partisan Review) on 9 December 1943. Another early reference to Animal Farm as it was being written.
To Leonard Moore on 9 January 1944. Orwell says that he hopes to finish writing the book by the end of March.
To Gleb Struve (Professor of Slavic Languages in London) on 17 February 1944. Orwell worried about finding a publisher for Animal Farm as it is “not O.K. politically”.
To Leonard Moore on 19 March 1944. Animal Farm manuscript is finished. Orwell doubts that his publisher Victor Gollancz will want to publish it “as it is strongly anti-Stalin in tendency”.
To Victor Gollancz on 19 March 1944. Orwell offers Animal Farm to Gollancz: “You have the first refusal of my fiction books … [but] it is—I think—completely unacceptable politically from your point of view.”
To Leonard Moore on 25 March 1944. Orwell reports that Gollancz does not want to see Animal Farm. The book may now be offered to Hutchinsons or Cape.
To Leonard Moore on 5 April 1944. Orwell reports that Dial Press in New York are interested in looking at Animal Farm. Orwell says that Nicholson & Watson already have a copy of the manuscript.
To Leonard Moore on 15 April 1944. Nicholson & Watson refuse to print the novel for reasons similar to Gollancz. Orwell says that he has taken a copy to Cape and believes that Faber’s and Routledge may be other possibilities. Shortages of paper during WW2 present a problem for publishers.
To Philip Rahv on 1 May 1944. Orwell writes: “I am having hell and all to find a publisher for it here though normally I have no difficulty in publishing my stuff and in any case all publishers are now clamouring for manuscripts.”
To Leonard Moore on 9 May 1944. Orwell writes: “I have just seen Cape who is willing to publish Animal Farm … I particularly want this book published on political grounds.”
To Leonard Moore on 8 June 1944. The nature of Orwell’s existing publishing contract with Gollancz is mentioned several times.
To Leonard Moore on 24 June 1944. Cape rejects Animal Farm after a consultation with the Ministry of Information.
From T. S. Eliot to George Orwell on 13 July 1944. T. S. Eliot at Faber rejects publication of Animal Farm because they do not wish “… to criticise the political situation at the present time.”
To Leonard Moore on 15 August 1944. Orwell reports that Warburg may publish Animal Farm.
To Leonard Moore on 29 August 1944. Publication by Secker & Warburg confirmed for “about” March 1945. Animal Farm published on 17 August 1945.
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Please use the search box and check the Animal Farm tag for other posts on the site that are related to the book.
