Catch-22
by Heller, Joseph
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
Hampden, Maine, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Jonathan Cape, 1962. First English Edition . Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. 443,[1] pp. In second issue dustjacket, with kudos from Nelson Algren, James Jones, Irwin Shaw, Kenneth Tynan and the New York Times on back panel. Red cloth, spine title gilt. Green dye on top edge faded near spine, and faint spot on bottom edge. Dustjacket is priced 21s.net on front flap, with wear on corners, and light soiling on back panel.
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
- Lippincott Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 4915
- Title
- Catch-22
- Author
- Heller, Joseph
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First English Edition
- Publisher
- Jonathan Cape
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1962
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature; Fiction;
Terms of Sale
Lippincott Books
30 day return guarantee: with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives mis-described or damaged.
About the Seller
Lippincott Books
Biblio member since 2009
Hampden, Maine
About Lippincott Books
We invite you to browse through the approximately 1800 books we have listed online on a wide variety of subjects, including strong holdings in Maine history and literature, lumbering, the North Woods of Maine, and Eastern Woodland Indians. We've been in business since 1975, over 25 years with a general antiquarian bookshop in Bangor.We are open by appointment; most of our stock of over 20,000 old and rare books have never been listed online, including a large selection of books on Maine and the Maine Woods. We are regularly adding to our inventory with new acquisitions.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- 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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