"THIS NOVEL IS LIKE NO OTHER": FIRST EDITION OF FLANNERY O'CONNOR'S BRILLIANT FIRST NOVEL, WISE BLOOD

O'CONNOR, Flannery. Wise Blood. New York: Harcourt, Brace, (1952). Octavo, original yellow cloth, original dust jacket. $5800.

First edition (one of 3000 copies) of Flannery O'Connor's powerful first novel, "a comic masterpiece," a lovely copy in original dust jacket.

O'Connor's extraordinary first book exemplifies her characteristically sharp satire and gothic sensibility, deftly blending humor and the grotesque. "This novel is like no other—the individuality is intense, the comedy fierce, the truth undeniable" (Burgess, 99 Novels, 62). "A comic masterpiece, Wise Blood focused on Hazel Motes, the would-be founder of a 'church without Christ, where the blind stay blind, the lame stay lame, and them that's dead stays that way" (Davis, 1955). "Her doctrinally strict, mordantly funny stories and novels are as close to perfect as writing gets" (New York Times). Basis for director John Huston's award-winning 1979 film. "First Edition" stated on copyright page. Farmer A1.I.a.1. Bruccoli & Clark I:281.

Book fine; about-fine dust jacket with two small nicks to upper rear panel, spine colors right and bright.