Mark Z. Danielewski Only Revolutions Signed 2006 First Edition First Printing

Description

Mark Z. Danielewski followed House of Leaves with another attempt to make the physical book do things a conventional novel isn’t supposed to do. Only Revolutions tells the intertwined story of eternally sixteen-year-old Sam and Hailey through two competing narratives: begin with one cover and read one voice, turn the book over and begin again with the other. The text circles, reverses, changes orientation and runs alongside a chronology of historical events, forcing the reader to physically manipulate the object in order to read it. The novel was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction.

And what a beautifully strange book it is. Color, typography, orientation, circular forms, two covers, two ribbon markers and upside-down text all participate in the storytelling; even the copyright page announces its typographic machinery. This is the 2006 Pantheon first edition, first printing, signed boldly by Danielewski and carrying the publisher’s “Autographed Copy” sticker. Beneath his signature Danielewski has also written “1/360”—an intriguing notation that I’m leaving precisely as written rather than assigning it a meaning the book itself doesn’t establish. A terrific example of experimental fiction in which writing, typography and book design become essentially inseparable.

One of the great pieces of contemporary typographic bookmaking—a signed first printing that is as much an object to explore as a novel to read.