Notes on this edition: First American edition – New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. $15.95.
Descriptive Bibliography
Title Page: JULIAN BARNES | [multiple lines of alternating thickness arranged to suggest the image of a sunset] | STARING | AT THE SUN | [ruled lines of alternating thickness] | ALFRED A. KNOPF NEW YORK | 1 9 [Knopf device] 8 7
Copyright Page: THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK | PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. | Copyright © 1986 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright | Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., | New York. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. | Originally published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, Limited, London. | Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data | Barnes, Julian. | Staring at the sun. | I. Title. | PR6052.A6657S7 1986 823’.914 86-40443 | ISBN 0-394-55821-9 | Manufactured in the United States of America | FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
Collation: 21.2 x 14.4 cm. Untrimmed pages. Pp. [i-viii, 1-8] 9-65 [66-70] 71-137 [138-142] 143-197 [198-200] [Note: no even page numbers were printed]. [i]: blank. [ii]: ‘ALSO BY JULIAN BARNES | Metroland | Before She Met Me | Flaubert’s Parrot’. [iii]: ‘STARING AT THE SUN’. [iv]: blank. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘to Pat’. [viii]: blank. [1]: ‘STARING AT THE SUN’. [2]: blank. [3-4]: text. [5]: ‘[multiple lines of alternating thickness arranged to suggest the image of a sunset] | 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 | [ruled lines of alternating thickness]’. [6]: blank. [7]-[66]: text. [67]: ‘[multiple lines of alternating thickness arranged to suggest the image of a sunset] | TWO | Three wise men—are you serious? | –GRAFFITO, c. 1984 | [ruled lines of alternating thickness]’. [68]: blank. [69]-137: text. [138]: blank. [139]: ‘[multiple lines of alternating thickness arranged to suggest the image of a sunset] | THREE | immortality is no learned question. | –KIERKEGAARD | [ruled lines of alternating thickness]’. [140]: blank. [141]-197: text. [198]: blank. [199]: ‘A NOTE ON THE TYPE | The text of this book was set in a digitized version of Bembo, a | well-known Monotype face. Named for Pietro Bembo, the cele- | brated Renaissance writer and humanist scholar who was made a | cardinal and served as secretary to Pope Leo X, the original cut- | ting of Bembo was made by Francesco Griffo of Bologna only a | few years after Columbus discovered America. | Sturdy, well balanced, and finely proportioned, Bembo is a | face of rare beauty, extremely legible in all of its sizes. | Composed by Creative Graphics, Inc. | Printed and bound by Fairfield Graphics, | Fairfield, Pennsylvania. | Book design by Marysarah Quinn’. [200]: blank.
General description: Binding 22 x 15 cm. White boards, light purple quarter binding with gold blocked letters on spine. White endpapers. White dust jacket lettered in light purple (title), blue (author), and black (quotes on lower panel). Multi-colored cover illustration by Havier Romero. Photograph of the author by Nancy Crampton located on back flap.