The Red House Mark Haddon Jonathan Cape, London, 2012 This is the advance readers edition of Mark Haddon’s most recent novel. These proof copies are sent to reviewers and book stores prior to the release of the true first editions. For a number of reasons, there are many collectors of these uncorrected proofs. Uncorrected proofs [...]
Diary of a Bad Year – Advance Readers Copy J.M. Coetzee Text, Australia, 2007 This brilliant book combines essays on a wide range of topics for a fictional publication entitled Strong Opinions, and diary entries about the relationship the aging essayist develops with his young typist. The essays run at the top of each page, while [...]
The Lighthouse Alison Moore Salt Publishing, Cromer, U.K. 2012 The Lighthouse by Alison Moore is one of my favourite novels of 2012. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and for the National Book Award for New Writer of the Year. Here are a couple of great reviews with which I am in total agreement. [...]
Roberto Bolano By Night in Chile The Harvill Press, U.K. 2003 This book is very intriguing to me. To start off with a slight aside, like many serious book collectors, I do not understand why advance readers copies are not more valuable than they usually are. Also called uncorrected proofs, or advance review copies, these [...]
Amulet — ARC Roberto Bolano New Directions, New York, 2006 Here is an advance review copy of Amulet, Bolano’s first short novel to come out in English after his epic masterpiece The Savage Detectives. It was originally published in Spain in 1999. The main character of Amulet appeared first in The Savage Detectives. From the [...]
The Savage Detectives — ARC + reading copy Roberto Bolano Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York, 2007 Since I posted the British first edition on New Year’s Eve, I thought, for comparison’s sake, I would hurry up and showcase the U.S. edition — in this case, an advance readers copy and an 8th printing paperback. [...]
The Return — ARC Roberto Bolano New Directions, New York, 2000 Here is the advance review copy of The Return, Bolano’s second book of short stories and his 11th book to be translated into English. From Publishers Weekly: ”The stories have a subdued quality, from underworld confessionals like ‘Snow’ and ‘Joanna Silvestri’ to tender reminiscences like [...]
A Free Life Ha Jin Pantheon, New York, 2007 This novel represents a major shift in Jin’s writing style from his earlier work. Publishers Weekly calls it Jin’s first American novel. All his previous fiction takes place in China, whereas this one takes place in the United States. A Free Life follows one Chinese immigrant’s [...]
Monsieur Pain Roberto Bolano New Directions, U.S.A. 2010 Here is a recent Bolano advance readers copy. In pictorial paper wraps the same as the first hardcover edition, and with a proper copyright page, this publication is a fairly standard advance review issue. Check my post for Roberto Bolano’s By Night In Chile to see an earlier [...]
Blindness Jose Saramago Harcourt Brace, U.S.A. 1997 This is probably Jose Saramago’s most famous novel for at least two reasons. One, the English translation came out less than a year before he won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. Two, the 2008 film adaptation, which was the opener for that year’s Cannes Film Festival, has reignited [...]