Nabokov dismisses The Van - the one written by the author (4)

I believe the answer is:

book

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'author' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.

I don't understand the remainder of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for book that I've seen before include "Bound volume" , "Reserve; tome" , "One's bound" , "Show yellow card" , "Reserve - volume" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).

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