Catch-22

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961. First edition of Joseph Heller’s groundbreaking anti-war novel, inspired by Heller’s experiences as a bombardier in World War II. Catch-22 was the product of almost a decade of revision; editor Michael Korda recalls that an “aura of myth hovered around the book” in the hallways of Simon and Schuster. The character of John Yossarian, a disaffected Air Force captain whose efforts to leave the service are frustrated by the circular logic of his superiors, would become an enduring symbol of the bureaucratic abuse of power: “there was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety (truncated) in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.” Ownership signature, dated 1963, of literary scholar Yvonne Noble. A very good copy of a modern classic. Single volume, measuring 8.5 x 5.5 inches: 443, [1]. Original blue cloth boards lettered in white, top edge stained red, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket priced at $5.95. Ownership signature to front free endpaper. Lightest soiling and edgewear to jacket, with several short closed tears; light offsetting to front free endpaper from jacket flap. (Inventory #: 1003889)