"LOVE HEALS": FIRST EDITION OF SALVATION, INSCRIBED BY BELL HOOKS

hooks, bell. Salvation. Black People and Love. (New York): William Morrow, (2001). Octavo, original half black and black paper boards. $800.

First edition of bell hooks' thoughtful work calling for love as "the deepest revolution," its title inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his words, quoted herein—"Salvation is being on the right road, not having a reached destination," inscribed on the title page by her, "A— !! love heals—bell hooks."

The "incisive, wide-ranging" works of Black poet, essayist and historian bell hooks, who died in 2021, were grounded in a vision of love as what she described as the "deepest revolution" (New York Times). To Margaret Atwood, "bell hooks embodied amazing courage and deeply felt intelligence. In finding her own words and power, she inspired countless others to do the same… many women from all over the world owe her a great debt" (Guardian). Born Gloria Jean Watkins, she early adopted the pen name of "bell hooks," which she used only in all lower-case letters, to honor her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. In Salvation, she speaks to the influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Shirley Chisholm. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Han and others to call for a "love ethic, which stands in opposition to all forms of domination, including white supremacy and sexism. Before us, visionary Black thinkers, many of them women, have prepared a feast, one that can heal our souls. All things are ready, Black folks have only to come." First edition, first printing.

A fine copy.