Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., First Edition in Original Dust Jacket, [1969]

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse–Five; or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty–Dance with Death. [New York]: Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence, [1969].  First edition, first printing. Octavo. In original blue cloth boards, stamped in gilt on the front, lettered in gilt, red, and black along the spine. In the original publisher’s dust jacket. 

Presented is a first edition, first printing of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. The book is in its original blue cloth boards with gilt, red, and black embossed titles, and the publisher’s original dust jacket. Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great anti war books. The book was first published on March 31, 1969 by Delacorte Press. Centered on the awful firebombing of Dresden during World War II, and pulled from Vonnegut’s own experience of the Dresden bombing, the novel combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim. A barber’s son turned draftee, turned optometrist, turned alien abductee, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a prisoner of war, as well as non-linear time travel. 

Slaughterhouse-Five turned Kurt Vonnegut into a cult hero in American literature, despite the book being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. “But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it” (Penguin Random House). George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.”

More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment and postwar anxiety reads as relevant, darkly humorous, and as profoundly affecting as ever. The book was selected by The Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time and is also listed in TIME’s “100 Best Novels.”

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922–2007) emerged as a novelist and essayist in the 1960s and penned the classic books Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions before 1980. He is known for his satirical style and celebrated for the creative science-fiction elements found in his work. He blended literature with science fiction and humor and the absurd with pointed social commentary. Vonnegut is considered one of the most influential American novelists of the twentieth century.

CONDITION:

Near fine condition. Octavo. Vibrant blue cloth boards with gilt titles. Some staining at top of front board and along spine. Corners are sharp. Internally clean. Near fine jacket. Free of visible losses or staining. Very light surface toning. Not price clipped, $5.95. Protected in mylar.

Dimensions: 8 5/8" H x 5 7/8" W x 1" D.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.