"KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE": FIRST EDITION OF SHILT'S BIOGRAPHY OF HARVEY MILK, THE MAYOR OF CASTRO STREET, INSCRIBED IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION BY RANDY SHILTS

(MILK, Harvey) SHILTS, Randy. The Mayor of Castro Street. The Life & Times of Harvey Milk. New York: St. Martin's Press, (1982). Octavo, original half red cloth, photographic endpapers, original dust jacket. $550.

First edition of the pioneering gay journalist's first book, his powerful biography of Harvey Milk, boldly inscribed in red felt pen on the title page by Shilts, "To M— & R— Keep the dream alive—Warmly Randy M Shilts November 11, 1982, Sacramento," with eight pages of illustrations, in the original dust jacket.

Mayor of Castro Street is "a no-holds-barred character study and a history of the local gay movement… An investigative piece on the mechanics of big-city government in all its expedient, back-biting splendor" (Washington Post). Shilts was also the author of two other other highly acclaimed books: And the Band Played On and Conduct Unbecoming, both completed shortly before his tragic death from AIDS. Trace of tiny bookseller ticket to dust jacket spine end.

A fine copy.