FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE RAREST OF AMERICAN CLASSICS, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY HARPER LEE IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION
LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott, (1960). Octavo, original half green cloth, brown paper boards, original dust jacket. Housed in custom half morocco clamshell box.
First edition, fourth printing, of Lee’s cherished masterpiece—“the Huckleberry Finn of the 20th century”—warmly inscribed by the author in the year of publication, signing as Nelle Harper Lee, a form of her signature she used only for close friends and family: “To Marion —— —— with my best wishes, Nelle Harper Lee, September 12, 1960.”
Lee's indelible depiction of life in a small Alabama town during the Jim Crow era immediately became a bestseller, quickly established itself on required reading lists in classrooms across the country, and was honored with the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was "the Huckleberry Finn of the 20th century," declared biographer Charles Shields: "It holds up an ideal of tolerance and compassion that was laudable and very teachable." Novelist Scott Turow reflected on the book's significance after Lee's death in 2016: "To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those works of popular literature that was like a divining rod pointing to then-subterranean forces of change… It is also a beautiful book, with a charming voice, perfect characterization and a knowledge that permeates every syllable… Ms. Lee remains an enigmatic figure, but her one real novel will be an intimate part of our lives for a long, long time to come" (New York Times). Stated fourth printing, in stated fourth printing dust jacket with contemporary blurbs on rear panel. New York Public Library's Books of the Century, 201.
Occasional light foxing. Small ink mark to dedication page. Text block slightly cocked. Spine lightly soiled, extremities slightly rubbed. Expert restoration to original dust jacket. A desirable early printing of the first edition, scarce with contemporary inscription.