PURITY

London, England: Fourth Estate, 2015. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. London, England: Fourth Estate, 2015. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 565 pages. The author's fifth novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Publisher's "Signed By The Author" round white sticker pasted in front. As usual, the production values of the British Edition are exemplary - and superior to the American - in every respect. Presents Jonathan Franzen's "Purity". His (most) Dickensian novel. The title is the full name of the protagonist, whose nickname, "Pip", is a nod to Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations". As incredible as it sounds, "Purity" marks a genuine artistic advance for Franzen, a novelist who keeps getting better with each successive effort, even if the novel isn't the "splash" that "Freedom" (2010) so unmistakably was. "There is much to admire in 'Purity', not least what David Gates has termed 'micro-felicities', the expertly calibrated turns of phrase and pleasingly digressive cultural references and riffs around every corner. Bends time, easing in and out of characters' past and present, until before you know it, the disparate pieces of a life suddenly fit" (Leigh Haber) . An absolute "must-have" title for Jonathan Franzen collectors. This Autographed Copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in red ink-pen on the title page by Jonathan Franzen. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page even though it comes from the publisher. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (British) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Franzen felt that he over-exposed himself with the national (and eventually, international) tour he undertook for his previous novel, "Freedom". For "Purity", he made just a handful of appearances to promote the book. To compensate for his drastically abbreviated tour, his British publisher issued a very limited number of signed copies such as this. The production values of the British Edition are exemplary - and superior to the American - in every respect. A scarce signed copy thus. Selected by The New Yorker Magazine as one of "Twenty Writers for the 21st Century", a selection that was prescient because he had not written anything in almost a decade. Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 for "The Corrections". One of the most important and most influential writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JONATHAN FRANZEN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0007532768.