"AN ACHIEVEMENT OF EPIC SCOPE": FIRST EDITION OF THE KNOWN WORLD, EDWARD JONES' PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING FIRST NOVEL, SIGNED BY HIM

JONES, Edward P. The Known World. (New York): Amistad-HarperCollins, (2003). Octavo, original beige paper boards, original dust jacket. $400.

First edition of Jones' widely praised debut novel, boldly signed on the title page by him.

Praised as a "book of tremendous moral intricacy" (New Yorker), and heralded as "a masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon" (Time), The Known World "explores an oft-neglected chapter of American history, the world of Blacks who owned Blacks in the antebellum South" (San Diego Union-Tribune). Awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Jones' first novel is "an achievement of epic scope… with its eloquent restraint and simplicity, The Known World penetrates a realm of contradictions and takes the measure of slavery's punishments" (New York Times). In 2005, the year after its publication, Jones won a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. First edition, first printing: first-issue dust jacket without Pulitzer Prize notice on front panel.

A fine copy.