signature – Page 14 – Julian Barnes Bibliography

Staring at the Sun (Jonathan Cape, 1986)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes’s fourth literary novel Staring at the Sun examines the ordinary life of Jean Serjeant from her childhood in the 1920s through her adulthood to the 2020s.

Descriptive Bibliography: First edition: London: Jonathan Cape, 1986. £9.95. Print run: 8000.

Collation: 21.5 x 13.7 cm. Pp. [i-viii, 1-4] 5-63 [64-66] 67-135 [136-138] 139-195 [196-200]. [i-ii]: blank. [iii]: ‘STARING AT THE SUN’. [iv]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME | FLAUBERT’S PARROT’. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to Pat’. [viii]: blank. 1-2: text. [3]: ‘ONE | You ask me what life is? It is like asking what a carrot | is. A carrot is a carrot, and nothing more is known. | Chekhov to Olga Knipper, 20 April 1904’. [4]: blank. 5-63: text. [64]: blank. [65]: ‘TWO | Three wise men – are you serious? | graffito, c.1984’. [66]: blank. 67-135: text. [136]: blank. [137]: ‘THREE | Immortality is no learned question | Kierkegaard’. [138]: blank. 139-195: text. [196-200]: blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14 cm. Dark brown boards, gold blocked on spine. White endpapers. Brown dust jacket lettered in white on upper panel and orange and white on lower panel. Color illustration of the sun setting on an ocean by Cathy Wood. Author photograph by Allan Titmuss on back flap.

Metroland | Uncorrected Proof (Jonathan Cape, 1980)

Notes about this edition: Julian Barnes. Metroland. London: Jonathan Cape, 1980. Pp. 176. 19.8 x 13 cm.

Uncorrected Proof of the first U.K. edition published by Jonathan Cape. Published in red wraps with black lettering.

From Conversations with Julian Barnes (Univ Press of Mississippi, 2009):

Roberts: In the past you’ve mentioned, at least to me, that with Metroland you edited almost to the point of penalty on the proofs.

Barnes: I did, yes. I had to pay them some money. Not much, but a small punishment for being obsessional.

Flaubert’s Parrot | Uncorrected Proof (Alfred A. Knopf, 1985)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubert’s Parrot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. Pp. 190 + [2]. 21 x 13.5 cm.

Uncorrected Proof of the first U.S. edition of Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985. Covered in green wraps with black lettering.

Presented here are two versions of the Knopf proof. The first copy was the top proof on the cart of text blocks upon which the cover color was written. The cover has the initials “P.C.” for “Press Copy” and the inside text block is marked “Press Copy Truck” with the cover color indicated as “Spring Green (114)”. This particular copy was acquired by the press operator prior to forwarding the remaining proof copies to the publisher for distribution to reviewers.

The second copy of this proof contains the provisional publication date of “March 8, 1985” with the “8” hand-written by the publisher. Stapled to the inside cover are two sheets of promotional material. This proof represents the typical state in which a copy would be forwarded to reviewers for consideration.

Also note that on one of the promotional sheets, the publisher corrected an error in which the main character of Flaubert’s Parrot, Geoffrey Braithwaite, was listed as “Charles Braithwaite”, suggesting a temporary blurring of the main male characters in Barnes’s novel and Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary [i.e. Charles Bovary].

Love, etc. | Advanced Uncorrected Manuscript (Random House Canada, 2000)

Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Love, etc. Random House Canada, 2000. 28 x 23 cm. [8.5 x 11 in.].

Random House Canada produced this spiral bound copy of Love, etc. The cover is marked as an “Advanced Uncorrected Manuscript” of the novel, and the text is a copy of the author’s manuscript with his hand-marked revisions as submitted to the publisher. This copy is inscribed by Barnes: “Never seen this before! | from | Julian Barnes”

Metroland (Jonathan Cape, 1980)

Notes on this edition: This entry features the first edition hardback of Julian Barnes’s first published novel Metroland, which won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1981. After winning the award, some copies of the first edition were issued with a red wrap-around band announcing the distinction.

Descriptive Bibliography: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1980. £4.95. Print run: 3000.

Title Page: METROLAND | Julian Barnes | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Collation: 19.7 x 13 cm. Pp. [1-10] 11-72 [73-74] 75-130 [131-132] 133-176. [1]: ‘METROLAND’. [2]: blank. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Laurien’. [6]: blank. [7-8]: [contents]. [9]: ‘PART ONE | Metroland (1963) | A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu | Rimbaud’. [10]: blank. 11-72: text. [73]: ‘PART TWO | Paris (1968) | Moi qui ai connu Rimbaud, je sais | qu’il se foutait pas mal si A | était rouge ou vert. Il le voyait | comme ça, mais c’est tout. | Verlaine to Pierre Louÿs’. [74]: blank. 75-130: text. [131]: ‘PART THREE | Metroland II (1977) | Things and actions are what they are, and the | consequences of them will be what they will be; | why then should we desire to be deceived? | Bishop Butler’. [132]: blank. 133-176: text.

General description: Binding 20.5 x 13.5 cm. Blue-grey boards, silver blocked on spine. Grey end-papers. Black dust jacket lettered in silver (title) and white (author), with a photograph of the author by Jerry Bauer on lower panel.

Rogue Binding: The specimen below appears to be a rebound first edition of Julian Barnes’s Metroland. While the markings are minimal, evidence suggests the copy was previously part of a library and was at some point rebound. The poor quality of the tooling and application of the title to the spine suggests the binder used mass market materials or possibly a kit. The book is inscribed by Barnes, though whether the signature was acquired prior to the rebinding effort or not is unclear.