(London), Picador, (1998). An advance reading excerpt of the first British edition (and first English-language edition) of this first novel which, after being rejected by some 70 U.S. publishers, was published in France in a French translation. From there, world English rights were sold to Picador, who published the novel to substantial praise, with reviewers comparing the writing to Thomas Pynchon's and the book's publishing history to that of John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces (which, sadly, would also come to include the author's suicide). After the book's success in England, it was finally published in the U.S. This advance excerpt has 19 pages of text, from two different sections of the book, and while no major textual differences were noted, there is a change in the first sentence, which here begins, "Baker High's fall term....", and in the published version becomes "Holborn High's fall term..." Very near fine in stapled wrappers. [#032643] SOLD