"EARLY IN THE SPRING OF 1750, IN THE VILLAGE OF JUFFURE, A MANCHILD WAS BORN…"

HALEY, Alex. Roots. Garden City: Doubleday, 1976. Thick octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket. $950.

First trade edition of Haley's acclaimed historical novel, inscribed by him in the year of publication, "10/21/76 E—, it's a pleasure to know you! Alex Haley."

"Haley's most celebrated novel, Roots, has been compared to both Moby Dick and War and Peace. The Washington Post called it the most highly acclaimed book of our time… The author immediately became a household name, as he won over 270 awards. A phenomenon of the decade, Roots mesmerized Americans and readers of literature throughout the world. No novel since the publications of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Gone With the Wind captured the public interest on the subject of slavery and its ramifications… In Roots Haley successfully traced his ancestors with a birth in 1750 in Gambia, through oral history with painstaking research and thereby put into perspective the historical background of millions of other African Americans… Haley's 12 years of work on Roots won him a special Pulitzer prize on April 18, 1977" (Blockson 3939). Preceded by the same year's signed limited edition. "First Edition" stated on copyright page. In 1977 the revolutionary television miniseries adaptation of Roots became one of the most-watched American television programs of its time. Books of the Century, 500.

Text fresh with scattered foxing mainly to fore-edges, lightest edge-wear to bright dust jacket. Near-fine.