COLUM McCANN (b.1965)
Apeirogon. New York: Random House, 2020.
First edition, signed and annotated with 1,783 words on 248 pages. Apeirogon is an exploration in 1,001 chapters of the conflict in the Middle East through two real-life figures, 'An Israeli, against the occupation. A Palestinian, studying the Holocaust', who are brought together by their grief over the loss of their daughters. McCann's gnomic annotations bring out the book's blending of fact and fiction ('but all life is a blend of fact & fiction') and the importance of musicality ('For me so much of this novel was about the music') and of 'confusion' in the novel's construction. Often the annotations will add quotations from other writers (Mark Twain, André Gide, John Donne, Jose Saramago, Patti Smith ...) which illuminate the text. The volume is signed twice, on the title and at the end of the acknowledgements. Loosely inserted are an autograph note signed to the buyer, a photocopy of a letter to McCann from Don DeLillo, a menu for the book's UK launch dinner at the Wolseley and a bumper-sticker referred to in the text.

Octavo. Original grey boards, spine lettered in silver, pictorial dustjacket. [With:] a second copy in a variant dustjacket, signed and with a note attached to dustjacket noting that it is 'a collectors items because of faded cover'.

Buyer’s premium is payable, with a significant portion donated by Christie’s to English PEN, but note that no VAT is payable on hammer price or buyer’s premium.
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