Description

“A MODERN CLASSIC OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE”: SCARCE FIRST EDITION OF GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN, SIGNED BY JAMES BALDWIN

BALDWIN, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. Octavo, original rust cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of Baldwin’s scarce and influential first novel, signed by him on the dedication page.

“Go Tell It on the Mountain, Baldwin’s first book and first novel, published in 1953, was widely praised. Partly autobiographical? Baldwin said in 1985 that in many ways the book remained the keystone of his career. Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else,’ he said. ‘I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal, above all, with my father. He was my model. I learned a lot from him. Nobody’s ever frightened me since” (New York Times). Baldwin notably signed this copy below the printed dedication, “For my father and mother.” The novel is widely considered his “most fully crafted piece of fiction and by many accounts his best” (African American Writers, 3). A “beautiful, furious first novel,” Go Tell It on the Mountain has been acclaimed “a modern classic of African American literature” (Stringer, 40). Blockson 5363.

Traces of owner inscription on front pastedown. Book fine; slight soiling, some chipping with small 1/2-inch chip at spine end of unrestored original dust jacket. A scarce signed copy.