"A NARRATIVE TOUR DE FORCE THAT ASTONISHES ON ALMOST EVERY PAGE": FIRST EDITION OF JOHN HENRY DAYS, INSCRIBED BY COLSON WHITEHEAD

WHITEHEAD, Colson. John Henry Days. New York: Doubleday, (2001). Octavo, original black and tan paper boards, original dust jacket. $175.

First edition of the MacArthur Award-winning writer's second novel—"solidifies his position at the front ranks of the new generation of writers"—inscribed on the title page: "To John - best wishes, Colson Whitehead."

In John Henry Days, Whitehead's "instinct for the epic has led him to the mythic black hero John Henry" (New Yorker). "A narrative tour de force that astonishes on almost every page" (Time), his second novel "is funny and wise and sumptuously written" (Jonathan Franzen, New York Times). Awarded the MacArthur Fellowship the year after its publication, Whitehead here "solidifies his position at the front ranks of the new generation of writers… The book, seemingly about the dilemma of race, is also about the dilemma of humanity" (MacArthur Foundation). "His astonishingly varied output, coupled with highly polished, virtuosic prose, makes Whitehead one of the most ambitious and unpredictable authors working today" (Harvard Magazine).

Book in very nearly fine condition, with traces of wear to spine foot; in a fine dust jacket.