1st edition GR

[Dexter C. Palmer]

	I'm not aware of the prices for individual printings of the first
edition, but I'm at least sure that the first printing of the first
edition is valued at $500 by many rare book shops (i.e. NYC's Strand and
various places over the 'net). I may take another look at the copy in the
Rare Books room here. (Rumor has it that we also have a Gutenberg Bible
here, you know, but only those in the inner circle are allowed to look at
it. I personally think it's a cleverly fabricated lie.) Anyway, if memory
serves, the first edition is different from the second edition in that the
first has a stylized parabola imprinted on the front cover, while the
second edition (the one I came across one fateful day several years ago in
the bargain bin of a shopping-mall Waldenbooks)  doesn't. The second
edition hardcover also proudly proclaims on the front of the jacket that
it is by Thomas Pynchon, "author of *Vineland*." 
	Flashback: I still remember the day I came across that Book,
knowing absolutely nothing about TRP, but entranced by the Book all the
same because its jacket managed to be strangely enticing while saying
absolutely nothing about its content. A really suspicious guy in jeans and
a ratty gray T-shirt walked up behind me while I was turning over the Book
in my hand, tall and thin, unshaven and unkempt, and said, simply, "You
have to buy that book." 
	I, being young and inexperienced in the ways of the world, my eyes
unopened, replied, "Aw, c'mon. It's so big and long, and it's sitting here
for five dollars in hardcover, so it can't be good, can it?" (As I
recall, the book was sandwiched between several copies of Norman Mailer's
"Harlot's Ghost.") 
	Suspicious guy, looking around shiftily: "You *have* to buy that
book. I do not understand why it is here. You *have* to buy that book."
	So I did, and the rest is history. 

					--Dexter Palmer

	On Sat, 15 Feb 1997, Henry M wrote:

> Is that all printing of the first edition, or just the first 
> printing?
> 
> On 15 Feb 97 at 21:36, Dexter C. Palmer wrote:
> 
> >  Amazon.com has a new pub date for the Everyman's Library edition of
> > Gravity's Rainbow: March 1997. This may or may not be true, but it's
> > still nice to dream about having it in hardcover with a ribbon sewn
> > into the spine.
> >  Speaking of hardcover GR, here's a bit of trivia: a hardcover
> > first edition of Gravity's Rainbow goes for around $500 at your
> > local rare book shop.
> > 
> >      --Dexter Palmer
> > 
> > 
> 
> AsB4
> 
> Keep cool, but care. -- TRP
> Moderation in moderation. -- Husky Mariner
>