Winston recalls buying the diary

Winston remembers seeing the blank book in the window of a frowzy little junk-shop in a slummy quarter of London. He was immediately seized by an overwhelming desire to possess it. Party members were not supposed to go into ordinary shops, but the rule was not strictly kept because things like shoelaces and razor blades were hard to obtain anywhere else. He slipped inside and bought the book for two dollars fifty, carrying it guiltily home in his briefcase. Even with nothing written in it, it was a compromising possession. The memory explains why the diary means so much to him and why he is willing to risk death to write in it.