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Native Son
by Wright, Richard
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Blue cloth with some rubbing to front cover, rear cover with some rubbing and soiling, spine cocked; unclipped dust jacket (pric
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1940. First edition, first printing with A-P below the editions statement. Title page printed in red and black. xi, 359 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Blue cloth with some rubbing to front cover, rear cover with some rubbing and soiling, spine cocked; unclipped dust jacket (price $2.50) in green and white, with single spaced blurb on front but not side panel, faded as usual, with some chipping to foot of spine and around foot of flaps, general rubbing with some light chipping along top edge. First edition, first printing with A-P below the editions statement. Title page printed in red and black. xi, 359 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Rare Variant Issue Jacket. A landmark work in African American fiction, which became the first Book of the Month Club selection by an African-American writer, selling 250,000 copies in its first three weeks on the market, propelling Wright to fame, and a lauded dramatic adaptation was directed by Orson Welles on Broadway the following years.
A RARE VARIANT DUST JACKET.
A RARE VARIANT DUST JACKET.
Synopsis
Richard Wright’s Native Son tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black American youth living in utter poverty in Chicago's South Side during the 1930s. When Bigger unintentionally murders a white woman, he is put on trial and eventually convicted, and sentenced to the electric chair. Often recognized as a protest novel, Native Son stresses systemic racial issues, prompting the reader to feel both sympathy and empathy for Bigger. In this, the novel is one of the earliest successful attempts to explain the racial divide in America in terms of the conditions imposed on African-Americans by the dominant white society. Soon after publication, Native Son was selected by the Book of the Month Club as its first book by an African-American author. Indeed, the novel was an immediate best seller, selling 250,000 hardcover copies within three weeks of its publication. As a result of the novel’s success, Wright became the first bestselling and the wealthiest black writer of his time, establishing him as a spokesperson for African-American issues and, to many, the “father of Black American literature.” In 1941, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Wright awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal. Unsurprisingly, Native Son was challenged in many public schools and libraries and is listed in the American Library Association's list of the “Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999.” Yet most institutions in which the novel was challenged successfully fought to keep Wright's work accessible, particularly in the classroom, defending it as a guide into the reality of the complex adult and social world. Native son is listed as 20th on the Modern Library’s list of the “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. It is also included in TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923).
Read More: Identifying first editions of Native Son
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Details
- Seller
- James Cummins Bookseller
(US)
- Seller's Inventory #
- 366170
- Title
- Native Son
- Author
- Wright, Richard
- Format/Binding
- Title page printed in red and black. xi, 359 pp. 1 vols. 8vo
- Book Condition
- Used - Blue cloth with some rubbing to front cover, rear cover with some rubbing and soiling, spine cocked; unclipped dust jacket (pric
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition, first printing with A-P below the editions statem
- Publisher
- Harper & Brothers
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
- Keywords
- African American History | Black
- Bookseller catalogs
- Americana; Literature;
Terms of Sale
James Cummins Bookseller
All items, as usual, are guaranteed as described and are returnable within 30 days if not as described. Within the United States, all books are shipped UPS unless otherwise requested (please provide a street address). Overseas orders should specify shipping preference. All postage is extra. New clients are requested to send remittance with your orders. Libraries may apply for deferred billing. All New York and New Jersey residents must add the appropriate sales tax. We accept American Express, Master Card, and Visa. All items are subject to prior sale; prices are subject to change.
About the Seller
James Cummins Bookseller
Biblio member since 2009
New York, New York
About James Cummins Bookseller
Founded in 1978 by James Cummins, the firm has grown to include two New Jersey locations as well as the main store at 699 Madison Avenue (between 62nd and 63rd Streets) in New York City.Hours: Monday - Friday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (During July & August, until 4:00 p.m. on Fridays.)The Madison Avenue store is a seventh-floor oasis for book-lovers, a quiet and pleasantly furnished book room with a carefully chosen, expertly catalogued and broad-based selection of fine and rare books, autographs, manuscripts, and works of art. We have built notable private collections for American and international clients. Our stock is always changing, and our steady input from private buying and public auctions assures our clients of new surprises (and temptations!) at each visit. Our stock covers a wide range of collecting interests, with particular emphasis in the following fields: British and American Literature, Sporting Books, Private Press and Illustrated Books, 19th-Century Color Plate Books, Americana, Travel, Sets and Fine Bindings, History, and Authors' Manuscripts and Letters. Our catalogued inventory exceeds 50,000 titles, much of which can be searched on the internet. In addition, our New Jersey warehouse contains over 400,000 books in all subject areas. We might have the books you're looking for.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Flap(s)
- The portion of a book cover or cover jacket that folds into the book from front to back. The flap can contain biographical...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Blurb
- The blurb refers to the commentary that appears on the dust jacket flaps or the rear of the dustjacket. In the case of a...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Chipping
- A defect in which small pieces are missing from the edges; fraying or small pieces of paper missing the edge of a paperback, or...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
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