TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Lee, Harper - 1960

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1960. First edition. Fine in very good plus jacket. Inscribed first printing of one of the most influential books by a white author addressing racism against African Americans, in the rare first-issue dust jacket, with Lee's portrait by Truman Capote on the rear panel. The story of tomboy Scout and her father Atticus Finch, a white lawyer who defends a Black man against a racist rape charge, takes place in a small Alabama town during the Depression. While importantly criticized as a white savior narrative, the book has been one of the most widely assigned books in US schools; it has been called "our American novel" by Oprah Winfrey, was quoted by Barack Obama in his farewell address, and has inspired countless real-life civil rights lawyers - among them Charles Morgan Jr. of the ACLU, Morris Dees of the SPLC, and Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty. This copy is inscribed to Clive Hirshhorn, noted theater critic, author, and book collector; inscribed examples are quite scarce. A beautiful copy of this Pulitzer-Prize winner. 8'' x 5.25''. Original quarter green cloth, brown paper boards. In original price-clipped pictorial dust jacket designed by Shirley Smith, photographic portrait of Lee credited to Truman Capote on rear panel. 296 pages. Housed in custom quarter black goatskin clamshell box. Inscribed by Lee on front fly leaf: "To Clive Hirschhorn / with my best wishes, / Harper Lee"; small pencil notation by Hirschhorn on corner of front pastedown. Jacket with tiny repair to spine head, front panel of jacket slightly toned, otherwise only very light edgewear.