Browse Similar Items
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
(Philadelphia & New York: J. P. Lippincott Company, 1960). 203 x 138 mm. (8 x 5 1/2"). 296 pp. PRE-PUBLICATION PROMOTIONAL COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION.
Publisher's beige paper wrappers, the front cover with printed promotional text (spine and front cover with brushed-on yellow wash, either as the original design or, perhaps more likely, as a stiffening agent to make the volume more durable). In a later drop-back box made of leather, upper cover and spine with gilt lettering. With a LAID-IN BOOKPLATE SIGNED BY LEE. ◆Spine a little cocked, two tiny chips to head of spine, a couple pages with a faint spot to one margin, but quite a fine copy of an obviously fragile ephemeral item.
The front cover here is emblazoned with a laudatory letter beginning (in boldface): "This first novel has hit the jackpot!" The blurb notes that the work is "the choice of the Literary Guild for August AND Reader's Digest Condensed Books. It will, we think, furnish a jackpot of bestseller sales for you [i.e., book distributors] during the summer." The cover letter continues: "the novel will be published in July at $3.95 but we are rushing this paper-bound copy to you so that you may share with us the rare fun and lift in the discovery of a new, fresh talent." Following this is a very complimentary characterization of the book by Truman Capote, referring to it as a "very fine first novel [by] a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic humor. A touching book, and so funny, so likeable." At the bottom right is the signature (apparently done in manuscript) of Hubert A. Johnson, Sales Manager of the Lippincott Company. Besides the present copy, we could trace only one other at auction, sold (with the author's signature on the title page) for $9,600, all-in, at Sotheby's in 2005. The laid-in bookplate has Harper Lee's signature below the Alabama Humanities Foundation logo and above the lettering "HARPER LEE / ALABAMA HUMANITIES AWARD / OCTOBER 3, 2002." An accompanying handbill explains that the foundation presented its 2002 Humanities Award to Lee, with patrons being given a 40th anniversary copy of "Mockingbird" in which a Harper Lee bookplate was affixed. The handbill continues: "A few of those signed bookplates were passed on to the Alabama Booksmith to be placed in future copies on a special occasion. . . . This enclosure certifies the authenticity of the signature." (ST17830)
Price: $16,000.00