The Bluest Eye

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. Very Good/Very Good. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. First Edition. Octavo. 164pp. Printed dust jacket with $5.95 price present; blue cloth over gray paper-covered boards with spine stamped in silver. Ex-library though with internal institutional markings only. Dust jacket with general creasing and toning, a couple faint stains and "387" in pink pen to front flap. Boards shelfworn with some soiling; patchy old staining to rear. Binding sound. Adhesive and brown paper remnants to pastedowns; library pocket to rear; library stamps and brief markings to title and copyright page; else unmarked. Overall (truncated) a bit musty. An externally presentable and about Very Good copy of Morrison's first novel, which received minimal critical attention upon publication, and of which she said in 1993, “the initial publication of The Bluest Eye was like Pecola’s life: dismissed, trivialized, misread.”

Reference: Tessa Roynon, The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison (2013), p. 22. (Inventory #: 32878)