"A NAME THAT GOT TO THE HEART OF THE THING—THAT WOULD BE MIRACULOUS": INSCRIBED BY COLSON WHITEHEAD

WHITEHEAD, Colson. Apex Hides the Hurt. New York: Doubleday, (2006). Octavo, original half blue cloth, original dust jacket. $250.

First edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer's third novel, inscribed on the title page by the author: "To John—hope you enjoy! Colson Whitehead."

First edition of this "comic tour de force about identity, history, and the adhesive bandage industry" in which the unnamed protagonist—a "nomenclature consultant"—is hired to name a Midwestern town. "Cultural insight, conceptual ingenuity and cutting-edge humor distinguish the third novel by a New York writer who never fails to engage and intrigue… Whitehead audaciously blurs the line between social realism and fabulist satire" (Kirkus Reviews). The book won a PEN/Oakland Award, and the New York Times included it on the "100 Notable Books of the Year for 2006" list, calling it a "parablelike novel" that "turns into an exploration of the corruption of language."

A fine copy.