Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Vonnegut, Kurt. GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER OR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE. Jonathan Cape, London, 1965.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, boards. First British edition. Pieratt, Huffman-klinkowitz and Klinkowitz AF8. Lower corners bruised, a near fine copy in very good dust jacket with some shelf wear along top edges and to lower corner tips, small nick at top edge of rear panel, a bit of rubbing to purple background ink (mostly rear panel and along spine folds), and clipped price. An uncommon edition of this book. (#102828)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$274.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Impression of Vonnegut's sixth book. 8vo: 217,[1]pp. Publisher's maroon cloth-effect paper-covered boards, spine stamped in gold, top edge stained rose pink; illustrated dust jacket by Jonathan Miller, priced 21s, printed in purple, pink, and black. Top stain a bit faded and dust-soiled, but an exemplary example, square, tight, clean, and bright (probably unread). Pieratt, Huffman-klinkowitz and Klinkowitz AF8. Currey, p. 503. "Most of Vonnegut's important themes are to be found in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, which ranks among his top three or four novels. (Mr. Rosewater is also significant because it marks the first appearance of Kilgore Trout, the recurring character who is one of Vonnegut's most popular creations.) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, like Slaughterhouse-Five, despite its pervasive, often flippant, humor, attains to an almost Dostoevskian understanding of the suffering of humanity and the necessity of realizing that 'all are responsible for all.'" (enotes) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good first UK edition. Pages clean and unmarked, except for small marking in pen to bottom right corner of front pastedown. Some bumping to spine ends, corners. Some light fading to spine ends, edges. Some very minor discoloration to textblock. Good dust jacket. Not price-clipped. General wear, including spine ends, edges, folds. Some chipping and tiny areas of loss to spine ends, edges. 2.5 inch by 0.1 inch vertical area of loss to fold between front cover and front flap. 0.5 inch closed tear to top right of front cover. Rubbing. Creasing to edges, folds. Still, a desirable copy of the first UK edition of Vonnegut's celebrated novel.
Seller: Sellers & Newel Second-Hand Books , Toronto, ON, Canada
Vonnegut Jr., Kurt. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater or Pearls Before Swine. Jonathan Cape, 1965.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Uncorrected proof in an uncorrected proof jacket. The dust jacket is shelf rubbed, with minor creasing along the edges and a very small series of chips along the top edge of the spine. It remains otherwise bright and whole. The wraps are rubbed but whole. Internally, there is some very slight insect-wear to the early pages but this does not affect any text. There are no markings or inscriptions, and the text is neat and complete. The binding is sound. JK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services.
Seller: Chapter 1, Johannesburg, GAU, South Africa
Price: US$577.47 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very rare proof copy with ultra rare proof-variant illustrated dustwrapper. Provisional publication date of October 21st 1965 stated on back wrapper flap. Proof copy of the first impression of the first UK edition. ***Kurt Vonnegut's fifth novel, published four years before "Slaughterhouse Five". ***Very good in red Jonathan Cape logo printed red card covers, with publisher's original typed blurb on a white paper label pasted to the front cover, dated the month of October. ***Please note that there is a biro scribble on the front free endpaper (which could in fact be a wild version of Kurt Vonnegut's signature!). Light reading creases to the spine. Spine tight. All other pages clean. Covers clean and bright. ***In a good variant trial mauve and pink colour illustrated outsize dustwrapper, with the original publisher's printed price of 21s net. Dustwrapper rubbed and creased, with a small blue biro light scribble over titles to the front panel. Small scuffs to the front panel. Edges of dustwrapper creased, rubbed and nicked (being outsize for the proof edition). Head of spine of dustwrapper creased and rubbed with small tears and tiny chips. Top edge of rear panel of dustwrapper creased, rubbed with tiny tears. ***200mm x 132mm. 217 pages. ***'Kurt Vonnegut has been called by Graham Greene "one of the best living American writers"; this is his best book. ***It infiltrates its subject (which might be called the American way of life) and leaves it apparently as solid as ever but, in face, riddled. ***It concerns the Rosewaters, a multi-millionaire American family whose fortune originated in the great bygone days of laissez-faire, bribery and corruption. ***In particular, it is about the family's sole prospective heir, Eliot Rosewater. His eccentricity is that he give money away without even requiring them to feel grateful. In a drab room in a small Indiana town he operates a one-man benevolent aid society. He helps people. It makes him happy. ***It also makes him, by most standards, crazy. To prove that he actually is crazy (and thereby divert the vast Rosewater inheritance to a more tractable distant cousin) is the aim of Mushari, a lawyer. ***The plot moves over the whole spectrum of American life, sparing nothing and no one, except Eliot Rosewater himself and a science fiction writer named Trout.' (Quote taken from typed printed publisher's blurb label pasted to front cover and inside front and back panels) ***"One of the best living American writers" - Graham Greene (Review quote taken from the back panel of the trial dustwrapper). ***A very rare proof copy of the first UK edition - complete with the scarce variant proof illustrated dustwrapper. This trial dustwrapper is rare. The novel was published while Kurt Vonnegut was teaching at the University of Iowa in the mid 1960's, and helped to affirm his growing reputation as a mainstream writer. 'Eliot Rosewater is a man whose compassion and generosity cause his wealthy relatives to consider him crazy'. Of interest to collectors of Kurt Vonnegut, literary first editions and first edition proof copies. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.
Seller: Orlando Booksellers, Lincoln, United Kingdom