The Bonfire of the Vanities (Signed First)

Wolfe, Tom

ISBN 10: 0374115346 / ISBN 13: 9780374115340

Published by Farrar Straus Giroux, 1987

First edition, first impression, signed with characteristic flourish by Tom Wolfe. Fine: tight and square binding in mauve coloured boards and grey cloth; a touch of toning to the heel of the spine; else excellent - very bright, crisp and clean, preseting as unread. The unclipped dustwrapper ($19.95 stated) is Near Fine: crisp and vibrant; minor wrinkling to the spine tips and corners; a small chip to the lower spine corner; a clean 3cm knife slit to the front panel, sealed to the verso with archival mending tissue; presented in a removable, archival-quality Brodart protective cover. A handsome copy. All orders are sent very carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and sturdy cardboard. Seller Inventory # M639

Synopsis:

15th Printing 1988

Reviews: In his spellbinding first novel, Wolfe proves that he has the right stuff to write propulsively engrossing fiction. Both his cynical irony and sense of the ridiculous are perfectly suited to his subject: the roiling, corrupt, savage, ethnic melting pot that is New York City. Ranging from the rarefied atmosphere of Park Avenue to the dingy courtrooms of the Bronx, this is a totally credible tale of how the communities uneasily coexist and what happens when they collide. On a clandestine date with his mistress one night, top Wall Street investment banker and snobbish WASP Sherman McCoy misses his turn on the thruway and gets lost in the South Bronx; his Mercedes hits and seriously injures a young black man. The incident is inflated by a manipulative black leader, a district attorney seeking reelection and a sleazy tabloid reporter into a full-blown scandal, a political football and a hokey morality play. Wolfe adroitly swings his focus from one to another of the people involved: the protagonist McCoy; Kramer, the assistant D.A.; two detectivesone Irish, the other Jewish; a slimy, alcoholic British journalist; an outraged judge, etc. He has an infallible, mocking ear for New York voices, rendering with equal precision the defense lawyer's "gedoutdahere," the deliberate bad grammar ("that don't help matters") of the wily "reverend" and the clenched-teeth WASP locution ('howjado"). His reporter's eye has seized every gritty detail of the criminal justice system, and he is also acute in rendering the hierarchy at a society party. He convincingly equates the jungles of Wall Street and the Bronx: in both places men casually use the same four-letter expletives and, no matter what their standing on the social ladder, find that power kindles their lust for nubile young women. Erupting from the first line with noise, color, tension and immediacy, this immensely entertaining novel accurately mirrors a system that has broken down: from the social code of basic good manners to the fair practices of the law. It is safe to predict that the book will stand as a brilliant evocation of New York's class, racial and political structure in the 1980s. 200,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild dual main selection; author tour.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Insulation is the key to living in New York, according to millionaire bond salesman Sherman McCoyinsulation from "them." So when he makes a wrong turn one night and finds himself driving through the South Bronx in his Mercedes, he panics. In his haste to get back to Manhattan he sideswipes a pedestrian; made tabloid news by a sleazy reporter, the incident has every politician in town crying for McCoy's blood. As some critics have long maintained, Wolfe's genius may be better suited to fiction than to journalism; his novel has all the knowledge, insight, and wit of earlier works but tones down the notorious stylistic excesses. The result is not just Wolfe's most successful book to date but one of the most impressive novels of the decade. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Bonfire of the Vanities (Signed First)
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Publication Date: 1987
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: 1st Edition