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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; An Inquiry into Values
by Pirsig, Robert M
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Near Fine
- Seller
-
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc, 1974. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Near Fine. 8vo. [12], 11-412, [6] pp. Quarter black cloth over black paper-covered boards, with silver lettering on the spine. Green endpapers and pastedowns. Price of $7.95 on the front dust jacket's flap. Pirsig's masterful tale of his road trip with his son, framed by his ideas of what it is to live the good life. A nice copy of a book that was cheaply made, difficult to find thus. A Very Good book with separation between the backstrip and top textblock (common with this title) and a name and number written on the free front endpaper in a Near Fine dust jacket with light edge wear to the bottom of the spine panel.
Synopsis
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values was written in 1974 by Robert M. Pirsig, a commentary on the Metaphysics of Quality within a growing commercialized society. The work is a fictionalized autobiography narrating a 17-day motorcycle journey across the U.S. with his son, Chris, and his friends John and Sylvia Sutherland. The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions, referred to as Chautauquas by the author, on topics including epistemology, the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of science. The interactions of these romantic philosophically driven discussions are tied by the author, who refers to his past self as Phaedrus. Author Robert M. Pirsig, a teacher of creative and technical writing at a small college, became engrossed in the question of what defines good writing, and what in general defines good, or "Quality", which he understood similar to Tao. His philosophical inventions and investigations later left him mentally ill, forcing him to reconcile with his past during his trip. "Quality . . . you know what it is, yet you don't know what it is. But that's self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There's nothing to talk about. But if you can't say what Quality is, how do you know what it is, or how do you know that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then for all practical purposes it doesn't exist at all. But for all practical purposes, it really does exist."
Read More: Identifying first editions of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; An Inquiry into Values
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Details
- Bookseller
- Evening Star Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 000011999
- Title
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; An Inquiry into Values
- Author
- Pirsig, Robert M
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- Publisher
- William Morrow & Company, Inc
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1974
Terms of Sale
Evening Star Books
All items subject to prior sale.� Certain items and shipping to certain countries may exceed the standard shipping amounts.� Any shipping expenses incurred above the standard rate will be billed at cost. Payment is in US dollars.� Personal checks must clear prior to shipment (please allow 10 days).� Books may be returned within 15 calendar days of delivery for any reason, so long as we are notified of return within 10 days of delivery.� Return items must be well packaged and fully insured and must be returned in same condition as sold. Any book described as a First Edition is also a First Printing unless otherwise indicated.
About the Seller
Evening Star Books
Biblio member since 2007
Madison, Wisconsin
About Evening Star Books
We buy and sell rare and fine books in many fields. Our interests include philosophy, modern first editions, and works of historical or intellectual interest. In addition to bookselling, we regularly do valuations and appraisals for non-IRS purposes. Evening Star Books is a Limited Liability Company.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
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