GARDNER, John

Grendel

First edition and first English edition. Two volumes. The American edition is bound in full ox-blood calf with raised bands and gilt lettering, the English edition is bound in full "faux" red morocco (really morocco patterned cloth). The pair housed in custom cloth chemises and dual clamshell case with leather spine label. Both volumes are Signed by Gardner. The American edition has several small digs in the leather, is lacking the first twelve pages (see below), and is very good, the English edition is fine. In a pocket in the slip case is a letter to Gardner from a Knopf editor discussing several elements of Gardner's work in progress, the sales figures on Grendel, noting that the publisher is trying to get these leather-bound copies prepared for Gardner, and mentioning that the American edition they have prepared is lacking the first twelve pages due to a binder's error. Gardner's own copies of his best, and most sought after novel, a retelling of the Beowulf story from the point of view of the monster. Unique.

[BTC #64559]