The Bridge of San Luis Rey Paperback - 2023

About this book

From the rear cover

In eighteenth-century Peru, a historic bridge collapses, plunging five people to their deaths. A Franciscan monk witnesses the disaster and embarks on a spiritual quest to reconcile free will versus fate and the existence of God in the victims' lives: "Why did this happen to those five?" This thought-provoking, Pulitzer Prize-winning second novel by American writer Thornton Wilder was called "a masterpiece" by The New York Times when it was published in 1927. McCall's praised it as "the philosophical novel brought to perfection." New generations have applied its messages to tragic events, including the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, and the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Bridge of San Luis Rey remains a compelling literary classic exploring destiny, love, religion, and the meaning of life.

First Edition Identification

The first general issue edition of this book was actually released in London, a few days before the first American edition.  In the United States, the first edition was preceded by a very limited "preliminary" print run of around 22 copes, identifiable in part by the lack of a thin green border and printer's device on the title page.  The first general edition in the US comprised somewhere between 7,000 and 9,000 copies.