Invisible man

New York: Random House, 1952. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Publisher’s tan and black cloth, minor soiling on front cover, no dust jacket; interior excellent. First edition, first printing of Ellison’s first and only novel printed during his lifetime. Hailed as one of the one hundred best English-language novels of the twentieth century, the story provides a unique and stirring portrayal of the African American experience, addressing many of the mid- century social and intellectual issues. In a far-reaching and fast-paced story, Ellison touches on subjects such as black nationalism, principles of communism, and treats racial policies of reformists such as Booker T. Washington. “Not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.” Invisible man won the 1953 National Book Award for Fiction.