'political power grows out of the barrel of a gun'

The first edition, first printing of Chairman Mao's 'Little Red Book', with the superfluous brush stroke in the facsimile of Lin Bao's calligraphic endorsement leaf, but with pp82-83 in the corrected text state.

By the time of the Cultural Revolution (August 1966), the red vinyl covers had become the standard edition, used consistently and famously throughout Mao's propaganda. Each volume has a reproduced calligraphic endorsement by Lin Biao, a decorated general, leader of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and, after 1970, Mao's heir apparent... which inevitably meant he did not long after die in a mysterious accident, accused of being involved in an assassination plot against Mao. As a result of this the endorsement leaf was excised in most copies subsequently. The leaf in both volumes here has an error in one of the characters, an issue point that was spotted quickly and changed in August 1965.

First edition, first printing; 16mo (14.5 x 10.5 cm); text in Chinese in corrected state to pp82-83, half title in red, title-page in red and green, photographic portrait of Chairman Mao, facsimile of Lin Bao's calligraphic endorsement of Ma's writings in the uncorrected state with the superfluous mark; red vinyl, upper cover lettered in blind above star emblem, small ink stain, a little soiled, very good; [4], 2, 2, 250pp.