Catch-22
by Heller, Joseph
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good in Good dust jacket
- Seller
-
Decatur, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: 101 Productions. Very Good in Good dust jacket. 1961. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Blue cloth binding has traces of fading on edges and a small area on the spine top. No internal markings. Dustjacket has moderate edgewear which includes small tears and light crease lines. There are two small chips out at the head and tail of the spine. Spine shows some soiling / darkening. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 443 pages .
Synopsis
Catch-22 is Joseph Heller’s first novel and his most acclaimed work. Set during World War II, the novel uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, mainly focusing on the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Occasionally, the narrator also shows us how other characters, such as the chaplain or Hungry Joe, experience the world around them. As the novel’s events are described from the different points of view through separate out-of-sequence storylines, the timeline of Catch-22 develops along with the plot. The novel's title refers to a plot device that is repeatedly invoked in the story. Catch-22 starts as a set of paradoxical requirements whereby airmen mentally unfit to fly did not have to, but could not actually be excused. By the end of the novel, the phrase is invoked as the explanation for many unreasonable restrictions. “Catch-22” has since entered the English language and can be understood as an unsolvable logic puzzle, a difficult situation from which there is no escape. Upon publication, the book was not a best seller in the United States. It was merely a cult favorite until the publication of the paperback edition in 1962, which set record sales — most likely benefitting from a national debate about the pointlessness of the Vietnam War. Catch-22 has since been ranked as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library, one of the 20th century's top 100 novels by the Radcliffe Publishing Course, and one of the 100 greatest novels of all time by The Observer.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Novel Ideas Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 70600
- Title
- Catch-22
- Author
- Heller, Joseph
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good in Good dust jacket
- Edition
- First Edition; First Printing
- Publisher
- 101 Productions
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1961
Terms of Sale
Novel Ideas Books
Payment must be received prior to shipment (institutional buyers may request invoicing). All items are returnable if purchaser is not satisfied. Book purchase price is refundable and in the case of an error in description on our part shipping is refundable as well.
About the Seller
Novel Ideas Books
Biblio member since 2004
Decatur, Illinois
About Novel Ideas Books
We are an open shop carrying about 20,000 hardcover books and have over 25 years in the book business.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
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