Elizabeth Costello [Signed]

New York: Viking Press, 2003. First Edition. Hardcover. As New/Fine. First Printing of Coetzee's ninth novel, published in the year he won the Nobel Prize for literature, signed on the title page. 8vo:[6],230,[4]pp. Publisher's French blue faux cloth spine lettered in white, black paper-covered boards with author's monogram in blind to upper board, pictorial dust jacket priced $21.95. As New (and probably unread), in Fine jacket without flaw. Of the eight "lessons" and postscript that make up the novel, seven had previously appeared 1997 to 2002. Only "Lesson 7: Eros" and "Lesson 8: At the Gate" are published here for the first time. "A number of these had also emerged earlier as lectures given by Coetzee . . . [so] it is likely that he had no overall plan in mind for Elizabeth Costello and, indeed, had to rework a number of the individual texts to make them compatible for simultaneous publication. It is also important to note that Elizabeth Costello's appearances in Coetzee's work extend outside her eponymous role in the book: to date she has also appeared in the 2004 short story "As a Woman Grows Older" and as the interloping author of Slow Man in 2005. As such, the final version of the text can be profitably considered as a collage of interrelated lectures and short stories rather than a unified novel." (Literary Encyclopedia) While, on its surface, this collage portrays a woman's life as mother, sister, lover, and writer, the novel is also a meditation on the nature of storytelling. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).