TEN THOUSAND SAINTS: A NOVEL by Henderson, Eleanor - 2011

New York City, NY: Ecco Press, 2011. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Ecco Press, 2011. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 388 pages. The author's breakthrough debut novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Eleanor Henderson's "Ten Thousand Saints". A "coming-of-age" novel with a dramatic twist. The twist, which the saintly title alludes to, is that instead of being about sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, it is about no-sex, no-drugs, and hardcore punk, the extreme opposite of American "youth culture" urban subculture. Set in the 1980's at the height of the AIDS crisis, which Henderson vividly evokes, the young characters are members of a burgeoning cult group called Straight Edge (as opposed to cutting-edge) , which has thousands of loyal followers who, going against both Nature and Nurture, voluntarily adopt an ascetic, rigidly self-imposed, no-nonsense ban on premarital sex and the use of drugs, but are fanatically devoted to underground punk culture. It's a defiant gesture, not just rebellion but full-fledged rejection of both their elders' and peers' embrace of tolerant, liberal, and secular values that the reader comes to admire grudgingly for its ferocity and purity. "Henderson does not hold back once: She writes the hell out of every moment, every scene, every perspective, every fleeting impression, every impulse, and every desire. She is never ironic or underwhelmed; her preferred mode is fierce, devoted, and elegiac" (The New York Times Magazine) . "Again and again, I was stopped cold by beautiful chapter-ending sentences. I remember this Manhattan, the Sunday matinees at CB's, the rage over Yuppies colonizing the East Village" (Dean Wareham) . There are whole shelves of books on sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Here is a radiant, affecting, and exceptional novel that recaptures for posterity a crucial moment from the past that continues to reverberate in, be felt by, and influence the present. The basis of the film adaptation by the directorial team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, with Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, and Emile Hirsch. An absolute "must-have" title for Eleanor Henderson collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (in the month and year of publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Eleanor Henderson NYC 3/12/12". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the Souvenir Announcement of the event during which her signature was obtained. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and publication-month dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ELEANOR HENDERSON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0062021028.