The Tokyo–Montana Express by Richard Brautigan
The Tokyo–Montana Express is a collection of short stories written between 1976 to 1978 by Richard Brautigan. The book was originally published by Targ Editions in 1979 as a signed edition of 350 copies, and was later published by Delacorte Press in 1980.
In the preface of the Delacorte edition, Brautigan writes “The ‘I’ in this book is the voice of the stations along the tracks of the Tokyo–Montana Express.”
From Brautigan.net:
The Tokyo-Montana Express is a collection of one hundred and thirty-one “stations” inspired by memories of Japan and Montana, January-July 1976, that seem to form a somewhat autobiographical work. Brautigan, defending the unique form of this novel, said each section of the novel represented a separate stop along a journey, a station along a [metaphorical] rail line joining Japan and Montana.
The dust jacket was designed by Walter Harper. The title is typeset in Letraset’s Windsor Extra Bold Condensed, with the author’s name in caps from Venus Condensed. The caption on the back cover is set in Electra. The title page of the Targs edition is set in Carlton, Letraset’s revival of Ehmcke-Antiqua.
Targ Editions title page
