CATCH-22
by Heller, Joseph
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Near Fine
- Seller
-
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Item Price
£120.72£96.57
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961. 1st Edition 5th or later Printing. Cloth. Fine/Near Fine. First Edition, Thirteenth Printing. Hard cover 8vo in blue cloth w/ white spine titles, red topstain. Fine and unmarked book w/bright, even topstain; in Near Fine gorgeous unclipped DJ w/ small chip top front flap and 1/8" tear bottom front panel, now in clear protective cover. 443pp. Beautiful copy for the collector.
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
- Basement Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 036497
- Title
- CATCH-22
- Author
- Heller, Joseph
- Format/Binding
- Cloth
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 5th or later Printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1961
- Keywords
- FICTION MILITARY HUMOR WORLD WAR II
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature;
Terms of Sale
Basement Books
All items subject to prior sale. International orders accepted by payment in U.S.D. through PayPal or checks payable through a U.S. bank. Items may be returned within 10 days (in the same condition as shipped), if not as described. Please e-mail prior to return.
About the Seller
Basement Books
Biblio member since 2003
Albuquerque, New Mexico
About Basement Books
BASEMENT BOOKS, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, specializes in hard-to-find non-fiction, Western Americana, History, and First Edition mysteries and literature.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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....
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
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