Ernest Vincent Wright (1872–1939) was an American author known for his book Gadsby, a 50,000-word novel which, except for the introduction and a note at the end, did not use the letter "e". Wright spent five and a half months writing Gadsby on a typewriter with the "e" key tied down. A warehouse holding copies of Gadsby burned shortly after the book was printed, destroying most copies of the ill-fated novel. The book was never reviewed and only kept alive by the efforts of a few avant-garde French intellos and assorted connoisseurs of the odd, weird and zany. The book's scarcity and oddness has seen copies priced at $4,000 by book dealers.