Slaughterhouse-Five

New York: Delacorte Press, 1969 First edition, first printing. Publisher's blue cloth, with facsimile Vonnegut signature to front board in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, red, and black, and black endpapers; in its original beige dust jacket designed by Paul Bacon, printed in blue, black, and red, with a photo of Vonnegut by Bossi to rear panel. About fine book, with light toning to spine ends, edges, and fore-edge of text block, and some tiny white dots to verso of front free endpaper; very good or better unclipped dust jacket, with some toning to spine and edges, some dampstaining to spine, and a nick to top right of rear panel. Overall, a clean and sturdy (truncated) copy. Pieratt and Klinkowitz, AH1. Perhaps Vonnegut's best-known novel, Slaughterhouse-Five tells of Billy Pilgrim's experiences as an American soldier in Europe during World War II. The plot centers on the Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany, in 1945, an event Vonnegut experienced himself during the war. A combination of historic and science fiction, Slaughterhouse-Five also features the fictional planet Tralfamadore, where Pilgrim, a man who is "unstuck in time" and involuntarily traveling between time and space, is taken captive after his daughter's wedding. As the New York Times reviewer wrote in 1969, "It sounds crazy. It sounds like a fantastic last-ditch effort to make sense of a lunatic universe. But there is so much more to this book. It is very tough and very funny; it is sad and delightful; and it works.". First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included. (Inventory #: KV053)