ATD sale date: strict guidances (globally?)

[David Casseres]

My copy of the Object of Desire arrived today.  I wasn't expecting it
until Friday, and of course I won't be starting to read it until the
weekend, at the earliest; tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the
U.S. and there will be no room in my continuum for starting a big
book.

The Object looks nice, though.  As it turns out, there are three, not
two "levels" of typography on the cover: a sans-serif face in black,
then a serif face behind it and slightly offset, in gray, and behind
that a different sans-serif, in a paler gray.  The theme is repeated
on the spine, and the back of the jacket is blank. Or rather, like the
front and spine, it is a pale-buff rectangle, slightly browned around
the edges, against the stark white background.  It looks like a
parchment palimpsest, bearing the same words from three different
times.

The much discussed glyph, in red, is divided between the rectangles on
the front and spine.  Like the rectangles themselves, it's embossed,
standing in low relief.

After the flyleaf there's a title page bearing nothing but the title,
in grey.  Then there's an "also by Thomas Pynchon" page.  Then a
conventional title page, with the title in black over the author's
name in grey.  Then the table of contents, and an epigraph from
McClintock Sphere, oh sorry, I mean Thelonious Monk.  Then a page with
the Glyph, all alone, on the midline of the page, above the center,
grey on white and more readable than it was on the jacket – the lion
is plainly a lion – a-a-and we're off and reading!

Mason & Dixon, by the way, had not just two "title pages," but three.

The pages are very attractive, nice paper with the text set in what
looks to me like Baskerville, but I'm no expert.  The leading is
generous (even more than in Mason & Dixon) and the letter-spacing is
wider than you usually see with Baskerville.  If it is Baskerville.
The type is small, so that even with all the leading and
letter-spacing there are plenty of words on the page, never fear.

There's no colophon to tell me about the type. But the book designers
are identified as Claire Vaccaro and Amanda Dewey, and I'd say they
did a very nice job.

Under that layered and evocative jacket, the binding is quite plain,
but handsome in cream and brick.

Thus, the Object. It weighs just over three and a quarter pounds, or
exactly 1.5 kg according to my kitchen scale.

And a Happy Thanksgiving to all.


On 11/16/06, moishe lichtfuss <moishe.lichtfuss at demusement.com> wrote:
> had my copy preordered on amazon.de (together with the two cd reissue of
> pavement's 'wowee zowee' btw) and got an email from them today. apparently
> the package is on its way to me. i am surprised...and very pleased.
>
> moishe
>
>
> On Nov 16, 2006, at 7:09 PM, Ya Sam wrote:
>
> I already bought an airplane ticket to Paris and am on my way to the
> airport. Hope there will be a copy left on rue de la Boucherie. :-)
>
>
>
> From: "V A" <vitalbits2 at gmail.com>
> To: "ugo quiller" <ugo_quiller at hotmail.com>
> CC: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: ATD sale date: strict guidances (globally?)
> Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:41:10 +0100
>
> I gottttttttttttttttttt it
>
> How could I have forgotten that amidst all the chain and corporate bookshop
> there was this little renegade gem tucked right in my bloody neighborhood
>
> So as soon as I got the mail, I flippped the disk, did double time down the
> stairs, jumped across the puddles and cars and bridges rocketman style and
> bingo there they were couple of copies laid out right next to the counter
> and the girls didn't even need a sweettalk
>
> and here I am with my very own copy with shaking hands and knees, old fans
> who've always been....
>
> Now single up all lines
> Cheerly now...handsomely...very well! Preppare to cast her off
>
> Hurrah, up we gooooooooooooooooooooooo
>
> On 11/16/06, ugo quiller <ugo_quiller at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris has been showing an ATDs copy
> in the modern classics session this past week
> Amazon.fr shipped my copy 2 days ago.
> I think I'll receive it this week end.
>
> Ugo
> (from Paris)
>
>
>
>
>
>
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