Description
New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1970. First American Edition. A superlative copy of the Nobel Prize winner's masterpiece, and likely the most widely-read Spanish language novel aside from 'Don Quixote.' The present example is a review copy, with the publisher's typed slip laid in; the slip differs from other Harper & Row review slips from the same period, in that in states "IMPORTANT: please note that this is UNCORRECTED PROOF." Also laid into this copy is a brief, one page typed letter from Harper & Row publisher Cass Canfield, Jr. to Dr. Howard B. Gotlieb, former Director of Special Collections at Boston University. The letter is dated 21 October, 1969 - some four months prior to publication of the book - and mentions the enclosure of an advance proof of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude.' It isn't lost on us that the copy these materials came to us in is not an uncorrected proof (of which we presently know of exactly 2 copies). We can only surmise that these proof materials were placed into this copy of the book in-house; Canfield, whose business card is also laid into the book, may have decided that Gotlieb should receive a hardbound copy and not a paperbound proof, and thus would have placed the materials in one of the first hard copies manufactured. Evidence supporting copies in dustjacket with the "." on the front flap being printed prior to publication is discussed at length in Don Klein's 'Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez: Una BibliografÃa Descriptiva, Tomo II.' In it, Klein mentions that two editorial heads at Harper & Row received review copies directly from the printer, both in jackets ending in "." Additionally, the review copy received by translator Gregory Rabassa bore a jacket also ending in a "." and not the exclamation mark (p.635-636). And while we are fully cognisant that review materials often migrate from copy-to-copy within the trade, sufficient evidence is present that the migration here was more than likely the publisher's doing. The only such copy we have handled, the only other known to us being the bibliographer's copy. Klein E2.a.1. First Printing, one of 7,500 copies. Octavo; hunter green cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; variant with headband in olive green and yellow (no established priority); dustjacket; [xiii], 422pp, [1 blank]. Faint foxing to top edge, else Fine. Dustjacket is the so-called second state, with a "." instead of an excalamation mark at the end of the first paragraph on the front flap; price is unclipped, with some minor wear at spine ends, and a few very tiny nicks and tears to extremities; bright, very Near Fine example.
