Slow Learner: Early Stories

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, (1984).

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Hardcover. First edition. Fine in fine dustwrapper with a little rubbing at the foot. Advance Review Copy with slip laid in. Pynchon's editor Ray Roberts's copy, with his book label on the front pastedown. Roberts was an influential editor with Viking, Henry Holt, and then Little, Brown, and he worked closely with John Fowles, Martha Grimes, Thomas Pynchon, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. He began editing Pynchon when the latter went to Little, Brown, starting with this book *Slow Learner*.

Item #342478
ISBN: 0316724440

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Item #342478 Slow Learner: Early Stories. Thomas PYNCHON.

Thomas Pynchon
birth name: Thomas Pynchon
born: 5/8/1937
nationality: USA

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Biography

American novelist and short-story writer whose works combine black humor and fantasy to depict human alienation in the chaos of modern society. - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literaturemore

Collecting tips:

Pynchon's first three books are by far his most collectible. His first, V. (1963) shows up with some frequency, but is usually either spine-faded, or price-clipped (the price is placed well into the front flap, so clipping it leaves an even more than usually unsightly loss), or both. There also exists an Advance Reading Copy in wrappers that seems to wear easily - we look for copies that are relatively square, as it seems to cock or slant very easily. The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) is frustrating in that it is usually found in pretty nice shape, but almost never in truly fine condition. We have also noted that the jacket on the book is often very slightly shorter than the book itself, probably a manufacturing glitch, so we wouldn't necessarily reject such a copy out of hand. Gravity's Rainbow (1973) seems like the book this author will be best remembered for, and seems to have become increasingly difficult to find in the right condition. This title too tends to fade at the spine, although a little more subtly than V.. A proof of this exists and has long been touted as a great rarity, and indeed it is genuinely scarce, although customers for it also seem to be pretty uncommon.

Email us to request a printed copy of our catalog of Thomas Pynchon Rare Books and First Editions (or download it via the link as a 2.97 MB pdf file). We also offer a comprehensive Thomas Pynchon Bibliography and Price Guide.more