The Wasp Factory

New York: houghton Mifflin, (1984). First edition, 1st printing. 8vo. 184 pp. Original octavo black cloth over white paper-covered boards, stamped in silver, in original unclipped ($13.95) dust-jacket. Almost near-fine. Some edge wear with a tiny tear to front panel and some curling to spine ends. Some wear to corners and edges. Light toning present to flaps. Protected in archival mylar. Book is tight, square and firm. Light shelf wear to edges - particular to spine crown and foot. Corners lightly bumped and curled. Interior clean and unmarked. Light handling wear. A nice copy.

Dust Jacket: Very Good

Hardcover: Very Good

“The Wasp Factory is the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1984. Before the publication of The Wasp Factory, Banks had written several science fiction novels that had not been accepted for publication. Banks decided to try a more mainstream novel in the hopes that it would be more readily accepted, and wrote about a psychopathic teenager living on a remote Scottish island. According to Banks, this allowed him to treat the story as something resembling science fiction – the island could be envisaged as a planet, and Frank, the protagonist, almost as an alien. Following the success of The Wasp Factory, Banks began to write full-time.”