V. by Thomas Pynchon [FIRST TRADE PAPERBACK PRINTING] 1986 • Perennial Library • Rare!

V. by Thomas Pynchon

TRADE PAPERBACK [1986] PERENNIAL LIBRARY

Incredibly rare 1st Harper Perennial trade printing / 1986 w/ cover illustration by Christopher Zacharow.

This is the first re-issue to contain the original uncorrected text of the true first edition before Pynchon made revisions, though this was later found to be unintentional. 

Vintage trade paperback in beautiful condition. 

Clean, tight, square and crisp copy with some faint spotting to front cover [likely from age] -- not visible on underside. 

Text block is pristine and interior pages are clean, bright and read like new with a hint of tanning.  

Winner of the coveted William Faulkner Foundation First Novel Award in 1963, V. is  a wild, macabre tale of the twentieth century.

Having just been released from the Navy, Benny Profane is content to lead a slothful existence with his friends, where the only real ambition is to perfect the art of "schlemihlhood," or being a dupe, and where "responsibility" is a dirty word. Among his pals--called the Whole Sick Crew--is Slab, an artist who can't seem to paint anything other than cheese danishes. But Profane's life changes dramatically when he befriends Stencil, an active ambitious young man with an intriguing mission--to find out the identity of a woman named V., who knew Stencil's father during the war, but who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.