50 numbers in 75 volumes, various sizes as issued. Most with illustrations (many in color, many folding). All in original bindings as issued, with dust jackets or original boxes where issued, condition generally fine (a few numbers with a touch of soiling or staining); many as issued in original shrink-wrap.

[With:] 21 additional volumes comprising all variant copies: 3 copies of no. 5; 1 copy of no. 6; 3 copies of no. 11; 7 copies of no. 21; another copy of the 3-volume set of no. 26; 2 copies of no. 29; and 2 copies of no. 38.

COMPLETE RUN OF NUMBERS 1-50 WITH ALL VARIANTS, FIRST EDITIONS (of all but part 10) of the American Literary Journal founded in 1998 as a successor to editor Dave Egger's earlier magazine Might.  McSweeney’s features the work of some of hte most important authors of the 20th- and 21st-century, including Sherman Alexie, Michael Chabon, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Sarah Vowell, and David Foster Wallace. All issues are complete with all ephemera as issued, with the following exceptions: no. 20 is lacking a booklet attached rear pastedown containing the first part of The Children's Hospital, a novel by Chris Adrian; no. 24 is lacking a booklet, attached to the verso of the front free flyleaf of "Trouble," containing the first part of Bowl of Cherries, a novel by Millard Kaufman; and no. 40 is lacking In My Home There Is No More Sorrow by Rick Bass, with paperboard cutout wraparound band. RARE as we trace no records for the complete set of the first 50 numbers of McSweeney's at auction. Complete list available upon request.