PYNCHON, Thomas. Slow Learner. Early Stories. London: Jonathan Cape. 1985. 8vo. First UK edition, first printing. Publisher’s burgundy cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dust jacket which uses the painting ‘The Red Model’ by René Magritte. A very good or better copy. The cloth clean and bright, the binding tight and square. Some mild marks to the textblock edges, the contents clean and fine throughout. The dust jacket unclipped (£8.50 net), complete, fine but for mild marks to jacket flaps.
A smart example of Pynchon’s collection of five equally wonderful early stories, whose publication followed a holy trinity of single-author pomo, V., The Crying of Lot 49, and Gravity’s Rainbow. Each story here was published originally in magazine format—three of which republished via the life-affirming ‘bootleg’ editions of Jim Pennington’s Aloes Books, which Pynchon purportedly never agreed to, nor did anything about. Of equal interest in this collection—and its US counterpart published a year prior—is the introduction written by Pynchon, in which he talks almost candidly about their creation and composition, and about his identity as writer—the rarest thing from TP, a master shadow. In fact, I wonder if this book’s sales would have suffered whatsoever had it merely included the introduction alone, i.e. I’d still have bought it.
PYNCHON, Thomas. Slow Learner. Early Stories. London: Jonathan Cape. 1985. 8vo. First UK edition, first printing. Publisher’s burgundy cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dust jacket which uses the painting ‘The Red Model’ by René Magritte. A very good or better copy. The cloth clean and bright, the binding tight and square. Some mild marks to the textblock edges, the contents clean and fine throughout. The dust jacket unclipped (£8.50 net), complete, fine but for mild marks to jacket flaps.
A smart example of Pynchon’s collection of five equally wonderful early stories, whose publication followed a holy trinity of single-author pomo, V., The Crying of Lot 49, and Gravity’s Rainbow. Each story here was published originally in magazine format—three of which republished via the life-affirming ‘bootleg’ editions of Jim Pennington’s Aloes Books, which Pynchon purportedly never agreed to, nor did anything about. Of equal interest in this collection—and its US counterpart published a year prior—is the introduction written by Pynchon, in which he talks almost candidly about their creation and composition, and about his identity as writer—the rarest thing from TP, a master shadow. In fact, I wonder if this book’s sales would have suffered whatsoever had it merely included the introduction alone, i.e. I’d still have bought it.
