Catch-22
by HELLER JOSEPH
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Leicester, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Cape, 1962. First Edition. Hard Cover. Dust Jacket. First UK Edition WITH THE 4 PROMOTIONAL CARDS LAID IN. Publisher's punch-pink boards with gilt lettering to the spine. A VG++ copy (a neat name on the front free end-paper) in like D/W slightly toned to the edge of the back panel. The D/W is the more common Second State (with five blurbs by other authors on the rear panel). The D/W shows the original price of 21s net to the inside flap (as called for). Includes fine examples of all four promotional postcards associated with this book's publication. A very nice copy indeed and scarce with these attributes. Photographs/scans available upon request.
Synopsis
Catch-22 is Joseph Heller’s first novel and his most acclaimed work. Set during World War II, the novel uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, mainly focusing on the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Occasionally, the narrator also shows us how other characters, such as the chaplain or Hungry Joe, experience the world around them. As the novel’s events are described from the different points of view through separate out-of-sequence storylines, the timeline of Catch-22 develops along with the plot. The novel's title refers to a plot device that is repeatedly invoked in the story. Catch-22 starts as a set of paradoxical requirements whereby airmen mentally unfit to fly did not have to, but could not actually be excused. By the end of the novel, the phrase is invoked as the explanation for many unreasonable restrictions. “Catch-22” has since entered the English language and can be understood as an unsolvable logic puzzle, a difficult situation from which there is no escape. Upon publication, the book was not a best seller in the United States. It was merely a cult favorite until the publication of the paperback edition in 1962, which set record sales — most likely benefitting from a national debate about the pointlessness of the Vietnam War. Catch-22 has since been ranked as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library, one of the 20th century's top 100 novels by the Radcliffe Publishing Course, and one of the 100 greatest novels of all time by The Observer.
Read More: Identifying first editions of Catch-22
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Details
- Bookseller
- James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 355490720580
- Title
- Catch-22
- Author
- HELLER JOSEPH
- Format/Binding
- Hard Cover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Jacket Condition
- Dust Jacket
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Cape
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1962
Terms of Sale
James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
We can personally take Visa, Mastercard and debit/Maestro cards. All books are are returnable if found not to be as described, please contact us first. James M Pickard (Rare Books) is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).
About the Seller
James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
Biblio member since 2006
Leicester
About James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA.
James M Pickard (Rare Books) is proud to be a full member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA), the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Second State
- used in book collecting to refer to a first edition, but after some change has been made in the printing, such as a correction,...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
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