Books

London: Jonathan Cape, Ltd, 1973. First Edition. Ballard's sixth and best-known novel, a postmodern dystopia centered around sexual fetishism involving car crashes. "After the narrator, named "Ballard," survives a serious automobile accident, he becomes fascinated and excited by car crashes, especially after he meets Vaughan, a fanatical "hoodlum scientist," whose ultimate ambition is to die with Elizabeth Taylor in a fiery car accident. Perhaps Ballard's darkest, most unsettling book. The identification between sex, automobiles and violent death are graphic, Ballard's tone is detached, almost clinical" (Barron, Horror Literature 4-16). Rare in the proof state, especially signed. First Impression. Octavo (19.5cm); original printed card wrappers; [6],7-224pp; signed by the author on the title page, with the publisher's slip bearing a synopsis, £2.75 price, and date of publication mounted to half-title page.

Crash is a novel by English author J. G. Ballard, first published in 1973. It is a story about symphorophilia; specifically car-crash sexual fetishism: its protagonists become sexually aroused by staging and participating in real car-crashes.

Look for the publishing detail that reads 'London: Jonathan Cape, 1973', without mention of reprints or later editions.