American Psycho. Brett Easton Ellis. 1991.

There is an amusing video clip 'How to Use a Book' from a Scandinavian comedy show at the myfinebooks blog on the lines of the old joke that was going round in early web days about 'the new Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge device, otherwise known as the BOOK.' Not unamusing. Also an excellent blog. Today's book is not massively wanted because fairly easily tracked down but a great writer who should rise in value or at least stay slightly ahead of inflation.

Brett Easton Ellis. AMERICAN PSYCHO. Picador, London 1998.

Current Selling Prices
$100-$180 /£60-£100 Want level 15 - 25 Quite High

MODERN FIRST EDITION
Designer ultra-violence, skillful and relentless, a Clockwork Orange for the blank generation. Few writers have concerned themselves with such callow and callous characters; his 1999 novel Glamorama, about the deeply shallow world of male and female models, also betrays an in depth knowledge of those exquisite corpses and their habitats. One of the truly great.



VALUE? First was a paperback and can be found for less than $30, unless signed. The 1998 Picador UK edition was the first world hardback and is quite desirable at a shade over $100. It was at one time remaindered and a Cecil Court dealer chap bought a few boxes but has now sold the lot. Signed would be rather good and possibly worth as much as $400. Apparently the reason it never appeared as a hardback in New York was that Simon & Schuster were alarmed by the controversial buzz surrounding the book prior to release and forfeited a $500,000 advance to Ellis in order to cancel the book. Shades of EMI. McLaren and the Sex Pistols. Vintage quickly signed him and became the new publisher of 'American Psycho", but since Simon & Schuster owned the rights to the hardback edition, the book had to be released as a paperback only. As always you want a 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 sequence on the back of the title page. The author recently went on a signing tour but didn't get further than Beverly Hills due to a foot injury.