"THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS": FIRST EDITION OF JOHN BALL'S AWARD-WINNING NOVEL, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY HIM
BALL, John. In the Heat of the Night. New York: Harper & Row, (1965). Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket.
First edition of John Ball's award-winning first mystery novel—"a landmark among expressions of racial justice that retains its power today"—basis for the classic 1967 Academy Award-winning film starring Sidney Poitier, this copy wonderfully inscribed by Ball on the title page, "For S— G— who, somehow, found this book. John Ball 2 November 1984," a fine copy in the original dust jacket.
"With his first mystery, Ball created an original of the growing league of cross-cultural detectives and the best-known black detective in fiction: homicide detective Virgil Tibbs" (Reilly, 72). Published the same year Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Selma March and Malcolm X was assassinated, the novel's "story of a black cop and a white copy teamed to solve a murder in a southern town could not have seemed more volatile. And the character Ball put at the leading edge of the story could not have been more indelible: Virgil Tibbs… It is a landmark among expressions of racial justice that retains its power today." Awarded the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from Mystery Writers of America, the novel was the basis for the 1967 film adaptation that starred Sidney Poitier. The film earned seven Academy Award nominations and won five Oscars, including Best Picture. In his stellar performance Poitier also made film history by delivering "one of the most memorable lines ever uttered in the history of cinema: 'They call me Mr. Tibbs'" (John Ridley, Vanity Fair). "First Edition" on copyright page with code "B-P" indicating publication in February 1965. This copy in inscribed by John Ball to Sol Grossman, a popular Southern California bibliophile who owned a local bookseller co-op. Laid-in is a card from the October 19, 1988 memorial service at Forest Lawn in Hollywood, honoring John Ball four days after his death.
A fine inscribed copy.