ELEANOR CATTON (b.1985)
The Luminaries. London: Granta, 2013.
First edition of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel, signed on the title and abundantly annotated with over 4000 words to chart its intricate astrological structure. Catton’s second novel is set in 1866 during the goldrush on New Zealand’s South Island. An epic mystery which vividly evokes its historical context, it is also a formal tour de force with a structure based on strict astrological principles. When The Luminaries won the 2013 Man Booker Prize, Catton became the youngest ever winning author and her novel the longest ever to win the prize. It was adapted into a six-part BBC miniseries of the same name in 2020.

The present copy is notable for the richness of Catton’s annotations – they appear at all angles in the margins, often curving around the body of the text to continue into another blank space. The majority of her notes describe the aspects of astrology that inform the novel’s make-up, but Catton is also particularly illuminating about her ambitions and intentions during the writing process: ‘My intention in designing the plot of this book was to create a pattern that each character could only see in part, a baroque and prismatic shape that (like the sky) changed depending on one’s perspective from within it. I wanted it to be a detective novel without a detective.’ Deeply engaging, informed, humorous, personal and self-deprecating, the marginalia in this copy are a delightful companion to Catton’s novel.

Thick octavo. Original cream paper-covered boards, spine lettered in gilt, gold silk marker, pictorial dust jacket (minor soiling to spine and rear panels).

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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