FIRST EDITION OF THE COLOR PURPLE, SIGNED BY ALICE WALKER
WALKER, Alice. The Color Purple. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (1982). Octavo, original half purple cloth, original dust jacket.
First edition of Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, boldly signed in black felt pen on title page by her.
With this, her third novel, Alice Walker became the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize. "While Walker's first two novels end in the promise of good, The Color Purple ends in happiness, reunion and celebration. Walker has said that she took her great-grandmother's life, which included rape and childbearing at age 11, and gave it a happy ending. Once again she had begun with one of her ancestors' stories, completing and transmuting it through her art" (African American Writers, 351). "Critics have both praised and attacked Walker's use of black folk English to capture [protagonist] Celie's perspective. Walker responded, 'Language is an intrinsic part of who we are and what has, for good or evil, happened to us. And, amazingly, it has sustained us more securely than the arms of angels" (New York Public Library, Books of the Century, 135). "First Edition" stated on copyright page with "BCDE." Blockson 5026. Jordan 644.16.
A fine signed copy.