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Observatory Mansions

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Observatory Mansions

by Carey, Edward

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Near Fine/Fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
SANTA BARBARA, California, United States
Item Price
NZ$21.28
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About This Item

New York: Crown Publishers, 2000. Very small red remainder dot on bottom page edges. Inward pressure on boards pressed gutters out from spine a few millileters. "Easily the most brilliant fiction I've yet seen this year- it proves the potential brilliance of the novel form" John Fowles. . First American Edition. Cloth. Near Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Fiction.

Synopsis

"Easily the most brilliant fiction I've seen this year -- it proves the potential brilliance of the novel form."-- John Fowles, author of The MagusObservatory Mansions, once the Orme family's magnificent ancestral home set on beautiful grounds, is now a crumbling apartment block stranded on a traffic island, peopled with eccentrics.Thirty-seven-year-old Francis Orme lives in Observatory Mansions with his peculiar parents and a collection of misfits. By day he is a street performer, earning money as "a statue of whiteness" in the park, wearing white gloves to ensure that his skin never touches anything. He steals items for his museum of significant objects (996 in all), not for their monetary value but because they have been loved, often bringing grief to their erstwhile owners. His bedridden mother, Alice, who has created for herself an alternative time frame called "fiction," and his father, Francis, are among the occupants set apart from the rest of the busy city by their histories, their memories, and their relationships with the other seven inhabitants of the flats.Each of the house dwellers has his or her own story, as seen through Francis's eyes, and the careful routine and harmony of the house are shaken when along comes a new resident, the half-blind, vulnerable Anna Tap. She is sympathetic and resourceful, and slowly the desperately lonely residents begin to open up their long-closed hearts. As the delicate balance of Observatory Mansions begins to shift, Francis finds himself having to protect the secrets of his past and the sanctity of his collection, while growing emotionally closer to Anna.Hailed as no less than a tour de force, Observatory Mansions is a debut novel of immense originality--a strangely haunting landscape occupied by compelling and unforgettable characters.From the Hardcover edition.

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Details

Bookseller
Timothy Norlen Bookseller US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
002105
Title
Observatory Mansions
Author
Carey, Edward
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Near Fine
Jacket Condition
Fine
Edition
First American Edition
Publisher
Crown Publishers
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
2000
Size
8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
Bookseller catalogs
Modern First Editions;

Terms of Sale

Timothy Norlen Bookseller

Books sent out within 24 - 48 hours upon receipt of order. Return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 15 days after delivery if an item arrives that is not as described.

About the Seller

Timothy Norlen Bookseller

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2019
SANTA BARBARA, California

About Timothy Norlen Bookseller

I am a internet based bookstore that specializes in Modern First Editions, film sources, Mystery and Detective fiction and Western Americana. I have approximately 10,000 books, primarily first editions with about 1300 of them signed by the author. I try and stock only books that are sound, clean and attractive.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Remainder
Book(s) which are sold at a very deep discount to alleviate publisher overstock. Often, though not always, they have a remainder...
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
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...
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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