Collectable Pynchon

[Dave Monroe]

PYNCHON, Thomas. V. Phil: Lippincott (1963). Pynchon's
first book. Inscribed by the author to the father and
step-mother of Richard Fariña, author of Been Down So
Long It Looks Like Up to Me: "For Richard + Lillian,/
with affection/ Thomas Pynchon." Pynchon and Fariña
had both gone to Cornell, where both were writers and
where Pynchon looked up to the older Fariña, who was
already something of a celebrity on campus. After
graduation, Fariña became well-known on the folk music
circuit at the height of its influence; he married
Joan Baez's sister, and Richard and Mimi Fariña
released a pair of well-received folk albums, one of
which alluded to Thomas Pynchon's V. Farina published
his first novel, a seminal counterculture novel of a
pot-smoking bohemian, in 1965, two years after Pynchon
had achieved a degree of literary celebrity (as well
as the William Faulkner Foundation prize) for V.
Pynchon and Farina remained close through the years,
even while Pynchon lived in Mexico after the
publication of V, and Pynchon was one of the readers
of Farina's novel in manuscript form, giving him
criticism and counter-balancing the strait-laced
tendencies of the mainstream publishing world. Between
the literary celebrity accorded Pynchon as the
preeminent postmodern American writer and Farina's
status as a folk music icon, their friendship was one
of the defining elements of the era. This copy, by
virtue of the family connection linking these two
friends, is one of the best association copies
imaginable, short of Richard, Jr.'s own copy, the
whereabouts of which are unknown, if it even exists.
Pynchon is notoriously reclusive; the last known
photograph of him was from his college years.
Autographed copies of his books are extremely rare,
and we have never seen a signed U.S. edition of V.
before, let alone an association copy of this caliber.
The book has the usual edge- and spine-sunning typical
with the pale purple cloth; near fine in a mildly
rubbed dust jacket with the gold faded on the spine
and the price altered in ink on the front flap. Laid
in is a sheet of personalized "Richard Farina"
notepaper, edge-sunned to match the book, and helping
to authenticate the provenance of it.  $50,000

http://www.lopezbooks.com/109/109-11.html

http://www.lopezbooks.com/112/112-11.html

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0009&msg=49658

--- Will Layman <WillLayman at comcast.net> wrote:

> How about this, foax (and don't get too jealous, as
> I can't prove it to you):
> 
> How much for a SIGNED paperback V.?


		
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