London: Jonathan Cape, 1985. First English edition. 8vo. Signed by Atwood. Original black cloth; publisher's dust jacket, minor rubbing, minor toning throughout.

The Handmaid's Tale was inspired in part by the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978-79 which saw a theocratic society rise up and dramatically reduce the rights of women, as well as her own firsthand experience growing up in post-war Canada which saw women who had worked in the factories during the conflict subjected to complaints from men for refusing to return to the home. Atwood would later say that "I didn't put in anything that we haven't already done, we're not already doing, we're seriously trying to do, coupled with trends that are already in progress... So all of those things are real, and therefore the amount of pure invention is close to nil." In recent years in particular the book has been challenged or banned in libraries and schools throughout the United States and Canada.