The Color Purple by Walker, Alice - 1982

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961. First edition. Original blue cloth, fine in a nearly fine dust jacket (faint wear and discoloration on the spine). Inscribed by Heller.

New York: Random House, 1952. First edition of the author's landmark first novel, which went on to win the National Book Award. Octavo, original black and tan cloth. Boldly signed by Ralph Ellison on the title page. Fine in an near fine price-clipped dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. Jacket design by E. McKnight Kauffer. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example. Ralph Ellison’s first novel is "one of the most important works of the 20th century" (New York Times). It went on to win the National Book Award in 1953. It was named by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the twentieth century and to TIME Magazine's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005, calling it "the quintessential American picaresque of the 20th century." According to The New York Times, President Barack Obama modeled his memoir Dreams from My Father on Ellison's novel.

NY: Covici Friede Inc.. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1937. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Tan cloth first edition, first issue with "pendula" on page 9, line 21 and a dot between the 8s on page 99, and all first edition points. The dust jacket is first issue and it is priced to flap at $2.00. This is a lovely tight copy, with only a slight fading of the topstain and a bookseller ticket at rear. The DJ is slightly sunned/faded. Housed in a custom clamshell box with chemise. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1886. Early printing of Twain's masterpiece, inscribed by Mark Twain. Octavo, bound in half buckram by Roycroft with paper labels to the spine, tissue-guarded frontispiece photogravure plate of Gerhardt's bust of Clemens, one hundred and seventy-four illustrations by E. W. Kemble. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Mr. Garth W. Cate: Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it. Truly Yours, Mark Twain, Nov. 25/06." With a lengthy letter of provenance dated October 14, 1964 and signed by the recipient which reads in part, "Dear Mr. Jacobs, If I had been younger and could have carried out a study of some of Mark Twain's motives and acts, I never would have parted with my cherished old copy of the first printing of Huckleberry Finn. This was the first book given to me by my father... In 1906-1907 I was a lecture manager for Elbert Hubbard, the Sage of East Aurora, whose quasi-socialist group The… Read More

New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1906. First Edition. Very Good. First edition, Doubleday, Page & Company issue, first issue with unbattered type on the copyright page. Signed by Upton Sinclair and inscribed on the front free endpaper to writer and poet Vernon Patterson, with Patterson's bookplate to the front pastedown. A pencil notation in Patterson's hand on the front free endpaper reads, "Autographed by U.S. at his home in Monrovia Dec. 2, 1962." Bound in publisher's original green cloth stamped in black and white. Very Good. Cloth rubbed at extremities, lightly stained at bottom of front cover, stamping heavily rubbed at spine and lightly so to front cover and pages toned.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961. First edition. Original blue cloth, fine in a nearly fine dust jacket (faint wear and discoloration on the spine). Inscribed by Heller.

New York: Random House, 1952. First edition of the author's landmark first novel, which went on to win the National Book Award. Octavo, original black and tan cloth. Boldly signed by Ralph Ellison on the title page. Fine in an near fine price-clipped dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. Jacket design by E. McKnight Kauffer. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example. Ralph Ellison’s first novel is "one of the most important works of the 20th century" (New York Times). It went on to win the National Book Award in 1953. It was named by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the twentieth century and to TIME Magazine's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005, calling it "the quintessential American picaresque of the 20th century." According to The New York Times, President Barack Obama modeled his memoir Dreams from My Father on Ellison's novel.

NY: Covici Friede Inc.. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1937. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Tan cloth first edition, first issue with "pendula" on page 9, line 21 and a dot between the 8s on page 99, and all first edition points. The dust jacket is first issue and it is priced to flap at $2.00. This is a lovely tight copy, with only a slight fading of the topstain and a bookseller ticket at rear. The DJ is slightly sunned/faded. Housed in a custom clamshell box with chemise. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1886. Early printing of Twain's masterpiece, inscribed by Mark Twain. Octavo, bound in half buckram by Roycroft with paper labels to the spine, tissue-guarded frontispiece photogravure plate of Gerhardt's bust of Clemens, one hundred and seventy-four illustrations by E. W. Kemble. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Mr. Garth W. Cate: Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it. Truly Yours, Mark Twain, Nov. 25/06." With a lengthy letter of provenance dated October 14, 1964 and signed by the recipient which reads in part, "Dear Mr. Jacobs, If I had been younger and could have carried out a study of some of Mark Twain's motives and acts, I never would have parted with my cherished old copy of the first printing of Huckleberry Finn. This was the first book given to me by my father... In 1906-1907 I was a lecture manager for Elbert Hubbard, the Sage of East Aurora, whose quasi-socialist group The… Read More

New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1906. First Edition. Very Good. First edition, Doubleday, Page & Company issue, first issue with unbattered type on the copyright page. Signed by Upton Sinclair and inscribed on the front free endpaper to writer and poet Vernon Patterson, with Patterson's bookplate to the front pastedown. A pencil notation in Patterson's hand on the front free endpaper reads, "Autographed by U.S. at his home in Monrovia Dec. 2, 1962." Bound in publisher's original green cloth stamped in black and white. Very Good. Cloth rubbed at extremities, lightly stained at bottom of front cover, stamping heavily rubbed at spine and lightly so to front cover and pages toned.