1961 Joseph Heller-inscribed "Catch-22" Book
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GUEST:
I brought a pre-publication copy of Catch-22 that belonged to my in-laws. They had it for, since 1961.
APPRAISER:
It's a pre-publication copy-- in other words, it came out before the first edition. And the point of this book was to put out some copies so that bookstore owners and buyers for chains could read it, reviewers could read it, so they could give it publicity. How did the in-laws get that?
GUEST:
In September of 1961, they took a weekend trip to New Hope, Pennsylvania. When they were there, they befriended another couple who happened to be staying at the same place where they were staying, and at the end of the weekend, the man of the other couple told my in-laws that he had written a book that was about to be published and he wanted to give them a copy of it. And it turns out that the man was Joseph Heller, and my in-laws had spent the weekend with Joseph Heller and his wife about a month before the book came out.
APPRAISER:
What adds to this one, if you open it up, tell me what it says.
GUEST:
"To Stella and Rube with the futile hope "that you will enjoy this book as much as we have "enjoyed your company, Joe Heller. New Hope, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1961."
APPRAISER:
First of all, pre-publication copies, they don't send them out very much anymore, because they email the books. You're not going to get this going into the future. Condition-wise, it's actually in good condition...
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
...for a book like this because the paper, they weren't made to last. Yeah. They weren't made to be as graphically beautiful as the, the book that went into the store. Catch-22 is probably one of the classics of the 1960s. There are very, very few books in the English language...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...where the title of the book has become part of the language. It's a satire. The main character is Yossarian, he's a bombardier. He wants to get out of the war, he's afraid, he's, thinks he's going to be killed. They keep saying, "Well, at this many missions, you're out," and then they keep raising it and raising it. Right. And he complains to the doctor, and the psychiatrist says, "Well, all these people who don't complain, "they're crazy. You, you'd have to be crazy to keep doing this." And Yossarian says, "Yes! I, I'm doing, I want to get out." He says, "Well..." You can't. "But if you say "that you know that this is crazy, proves you're not crazy."
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Catch-22. Some people very much want these pre-publications. Some people want the book as it came out, because it's prettier, the dust jacket. It's what, the way they remember it when they read it. Some people want both.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So, in this case, this pre-publication copy, signed, retail, is a $3,000 to $4,000 book.
GUEST:
Really? Wow, that's amazing!
APPRAISER:
Getting it with a nice inscription in it, it was obviously personal, that he didn't just sign it for somebody.
GUEST:
Ah, yeah.
APPRAISER:
That add, all adds to the value.
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