ON BEING BLUE: A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY: THE DELUXE EDITION

Boston, MA: David R. Godine, 1975. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. Boston, MA: David R. Godine, 1975. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 93 pages. Book-length Essay on subject. One of the greatest literary and philosophical texts of the 20th century. Deluxe Slipcased Edition of 225 numbered and signed copies. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the regular trade edition. The Deluxe Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by David R. Godine: Regular-sized volume format. Blue cloth boards with gilt titles embossed on spine, as issued. Text by William H. Gass. Brown-and-blue slipcase. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents William H. Gass' "On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry". His brilliant and beautifully written essay on the particular color. Novelist, short-story writer, literary critic, essayist, poet, philosopher, and translator, William H. Gass has written one of the definitive books on the color blue: Its meanings, interpretations, and uses by the cultures that see it, respond to it, and define what it means. Gass has pulled off in literature what Yves Klein, the artist most closely identified with the color, pulled off in modern art. If red were a human being, he (or she) would be a lover. If blue, he (or she) would be, according to Klein and Gass, an artist. Which is also the idea that the late great Polish film director Kieslowski explored in "Three Colors: Blue", the first film of his masterpiece-trilogy. He probably never heard of Gass, but his heroine is very much a Gass-like character: A woman, who is a composer, who is forced to confront her genius and calling after a tragic event (and after years of avoidance and denial) in order to be fully human and truly free. An absolute "must-have" title for William H. Gass collectors. This is a copy of the Deluxe Slipcased Edition of 225 copies, indicated/numbered as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by the author: "[Number] 3 William H. Gass". This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the Deluxe Slipcased Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws from apparent use even if it is the Deluxe Edition. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER WILLIAM H. GASS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0879231904.