Slaughterhouse-Five, Or, The Children's Crusade by Vonnegut, Kurt - 1969

New York: Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence, 1969 First edition, first printing, advance review copy with publisher's review slip laid in. Publisher's turquoise cloth, stamped in gilt to front board with author's facsimile signature, lettered in gilt and metallic red to spine, black endpapers; in the original dust jacket designed by Paul Bacon, lettered in black, red, and bright blue, photograph of Vonnegut by Bossi to rear panel. A near fine copy with some light toning to extremities, previous owner's initials to first free leaf; in a near fine dust jacket with toning to extremities and a touch of creasing to top edge. Overall, a tight, clean copy. Perhaps Vonnegut's best-known novel, Slaughterhouse-Five tells the story of Billy Pilgrim's experience 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 The New York Times wrote in its 1969 review, "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.