Catch-22

First edition thus. Simon & Schuster Classic Edition. 8vo. 416 pp. Quarter-bound black cloth over grey paper boards, lettered in gilt to spine; stained coal-black to top edge. Deckled fore-edges. With an Introduction by the Author, penned for this edition, which is jointly dedicated to his editor, Robert Gottlieb, and his agent, Candida Donadio.

Author's first book. A 1962 National Book Award for Fiction Finalist. Listed in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century, The Observer's All-Time 100 Best Novels (2003), the BBC's Big Read '200 Best Novels' (2003), and TIME Magazine's 100 Best Modern Novels (2005). Listed in the exhibition 'The New York Public Library's Books of the Century' (May 1995 – July 1996), which noted "the phrase 'Catch-22,' symbolizing the absurdity of all institutional logic, has become a permanent part of our language."

Classic anti-war novel that helped define the irreverent ethos of the 1960s, set amidst an American bomber squadron encampment off the coast of Italy during the closing phases of World War II. Here, Captain John Yossarian and his fellow airmen attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their ever-increasing number of flight missions – anyone seeking a discharge on the grounds of insanity is 'certified' sane enough to keep on flying.

The book's initial chapter was published in 1955 as "Catch-18," in Issue 7 of New World Writing (an anthology that also contained a pseudonymous extract from Jack Kerouac's On the Road). Just before publication, at Robert Gottlieb's suggestion (Heller's then editor, later head of the venerable firm, Alfred A. Knopf and finally editor of The New Yorker), the book's title was changed to Catch-22 in light of the imminent publication of Leon Uris' novel, Mila 18.

Eight years in gestation, while Heller worked as a copywriter at Time magazine, the novel was published to mixed reviews in 1961, with the Chicago Sun-Times calling it "the best American novel in years," while other critics deriding it as "disorganized, unreadable, and crass". An initial 'slow burner,' – it sold a modest 30,000 hardback copies in its first year of publication in the United States – it repulsed as many early readers as it caused others to fall in 'love [with it] at first sight'.

In England on the other hand, under Cape's enterprising editor, Tom Maschler, the book was acclaimed upon publication and reached number one on the bestseller lists within a week. Back in the States, after a first paperback run of 300,000 copies by Dell in September 1962, there were ten further printings in circulation, totalling 2 million copies by the end of the succeeding year. It has since gone on to sell in excess of 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Basis for the 1970 film directed by Mike Nichols, starring Alan Arkin (as Captain Yossarian), Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel (in his acting debut), Charles Grodin, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, and penned by screenwriter Buck Henry who also played Lt. Col. Korn. "The greatest satirical work in the English language." –Observer