Inscribed by Dave Eggers
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Notes: A book whose title is not hyperbole. It manages to be stylistically inventive, mocking of publishing conventions, and yet truly moving and heartfelt. The inventiveness begins with the dust jacket: the front flap has no explanation of the book but rather prints a scene cut from chapter five. The blurbs on the back begin with "This is a blurb, it conveys no information about the book whatsoever...." The copyright page has a mock edition numberline that instead shows the author's self-identified "place on the sexual-orientation scale."
As a first book, this novel-memoir should be a lot more expensive on the collector's market, except the publishers knew a good thing when they saw it and printed a bunch of copies of the first edition, which quickly sold out, launching an important literary career.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. This copy is inscribed to the writer Gregg Barrios and came from his estate: "Hi Gregorio/ (or Greg) / D. E. 3/6/00."
Publication: New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
ISBN: 0684863472
Item No: #18406
Price: $75