Dead Babies.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn. [Ex-Public Library.] VG-/VG-. Library's black ink oblong stamps (2 each) to both the front and rear pastedowns with both the front and rear free endpapers glued to same and obscuring the legibility of their lettering,a subsequent owner's handwritten pair of blue ink initials above the 'M' of Martin on the title page which also has a partial black ink library stamp and black ink alpha-numerical library number to its reverse,no other library notation or stamps present,and the dw/dj has a price-clip.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,wrap-around black background with orange,pink and red colour layered bands to lettered title and capitalised,white-lettered author's name to front panel of dw/dj,spine/backstrip with capitalised,white-lettered author name,title and publisher's b/w illustrated colophon to foot of same,the continuation of the 3 coloured bands across the width of the spine have light sunning/fade,rear panel with similarly coloured+ lettered title as front's panel - but as a reversed mirror image and within the arched panel formed by the letters of the first word of title,author's black+orange portrait photograph. Some minimal shelf-wear to edges and lower corner tips due in part to laminate breakdown.Both head and foot of spine/backstrip of dw/dj with some chipping and colour paper loss - the foot more so than the head. Top two corner tips with miniscule rubbing/chipping and reciprocal colour paper loss.Front panel's spine/backstrip's gutter's fold/crease with some minimal laminate breakdown, peel and curl, with miniscule colour paper loss too. No major nicks,tears or splits present. Top edges with faint,minimal trace of published orange colouring but now aged/toned; less toned,slightly brighter but with splash stain; contents reasonably clean - bleed from fore-edge stain to some page edges notwithstanding - tight and solid - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,would appear unread,other than my own collation. Publisher's bright,clean,generally sharp-cornered,original plain cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettered spine/backstrip,book allittle cocked,and clean plain white verso+recto of respective front+rear free endpapers respectively. UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,v-xipp+13-254pp [paginated] includes Contents list/table,Main characters list/table,Pts 1-3 comprising Pt 1 - FRIDAY: with 9 chapters, and 10 chapters each for Quentin, Diana, Pt 2 - SATURDAY with 10 chapters each for Giles, Whitehead, Celia and Andy,and Pt 3 with 3 chapters for Johnny; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication to reverse of last page of Contents,and author's Note with an epigram (Menippus) to it reverse. Described in detail, honestly and fairly and nowhere as bad as it reads or sounds - stiil an acceptable copy,despite its ex-public library provenance and particularly given its scarcity as a 1st edition. Author's 2nd novel of which a film adaptation was made in 2000. Want more Martin AMIS titles? For similar and other available titles - please search my MODERN FIRSTS2, MODERN FIRSTS,SIGNED and 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die catalogues. If the Marquis de Sade were to crash one of P. G. Wodehouse's house parties, the chaos might resemble the nightmarishly funny goings-on in this novel. The residents of Appleseed Rectory have primed themselves both for a visit from a triad of Americans and a weekend of copious drug taking and sexual gymnastics. There's even a heifer to be slugged and a pair of doddering tenants to be ingeniously harassed. But none of these variously bright and dull young things has counted on the intrusion of "dead babies" -- dreary spasms of reality. Or on the uninvited presence of a mysterious prankster named Johnny, whose sinister idea of fun makes theirs look like a game of backgammon.
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