Plus [Signed]

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. First Edition. First Printing, cloth issue. Octavo (12.75cm); mauve paper-covered boards and navy blue cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in gilt on spine and in blind to front cover; light blue topstain; dustjacket; [vi],[4],5-215,[3]pp. Signed by the author on the title page. Topstain faded, with a faint, tiny scuff to lower front joint; very Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $8.95), with mild surface wear and light wear to extremities; Near Fine. An attractive copy of McElroy's fifth novel. "This intricate narrative follows a disembodied consciousness orbiting Earth as part of Project Travel Light, a solar energy experiment in which--we slowly gather--a bed of algae aided by solar "windmills" somehow nourishes a former human brain. The organ has been removed from the diseased body of a project engineer and implanted in an I(nterplanetary) M(onitoring) P(latform), its sensory functions closed down or replaced by equivalent artificial data transmissions. Four months into the project, Imp Plus awakens to an altered awareness in which a handful of human memories and words seem strangely keyed to unaccountable new perceptions, unexpected physical growth, and a dawning distrust of Ground Control" (Kirkus Review).