| |
|
|
 (Click for larger image) 
Morrison, Toni.
THE COLLECTED NOVELS OF TONI MORRISON: THE BLUEST EYE/SULA /SONG OF SOLOMON/TAR BABY/BELOVED/JAZZ.
New York City, NY:
Alfred A. Knopf,
1994.
Hardcover.
First Edition/First Printing.
Unpaginated.
Fine.
Signed. Retrospective Uniform Edition of the author's first six novels. The first appearance of the titles in this Uniform-Edition format. Published in a relatively small and limited print run as a hardcover set only. A handsome production by Barbara de Wilde: Austere gray cloth boards with the initial "M" embossed on each book's cover and metallic-silver titles against black spine, as issued. Works by Toni Morrison. Elegant, abstract-design hard board slipcase, as issued. The slipcase comes with hard board partitions separating each book within. Printed on acid-free paper in the United States to the highest standards. Without DJ's, as issued. Presents the publisher's "celebratory" edition of Toni Morrison's stupendous achievement as a novelist, which made her the first African-American writer to win the Nobel Prize. Because her work is difficult, demanding, and often daunting, many of the novels were published in relatively small print runs when they first appeared. Some of them are now milestones in the author's career and in American literature: "The Bluest Eye", her landmark debut novel, was printed in an edition of 2000 copies and is now very difficult to find. Remaining copies of the First Edition command $10, 000 online. "Song of Solomon" won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 and remains Morrison's masterpiece. The literary critic Harold Bloom regards it as one of the canonical works of the 20th century. "Beloved" won the Pulitzer Prize For Fiction in 1988. The other novels are "must-haves" for the novelist's admirers and collectors. Even though they are less crucial works, they are genuine achievements nevertheless, and Morrison's writing is better than most other contemporary novelists' anyway: "Sula", "Tar Baby", and "Jazz". The literary critic Patricia Storace has summed up her achievement brilliantly: "Toni Morrison is relighting the angles from which we view American history, changing the very color of its shadows, showing whites what they look like in black mirrors. To read her work is to witness something unprecedented, an invitation to a literature to become what it has claimed to be, a truly American literature" (Patricia Storace). A magnificent collection. A "must-have" edition for Toni Morrison collectors. This set is prominently and beautifully signed in black fountain pen on the title page of each volume by Toni Morrison. Morrison signed every single volume in the set "uniformly", notably "The Bluest Eye", the most collectible title in the collection. Signed Toni Morrisons escalate very rapidly in value and this will be no exception. This is one of very few signed copies of the Uniform Edition Set still available online and is in especially fine condition, particularly the rather fragile slipcase, which is often found in damaged or hurt condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, pristine beauties. A rare signed set thus. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977, the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Toni Morrison's "Beloved" was selected by The New York Times panel of writers, editors, and critics as the most important work of American fiction of the last 25 years. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible set. (SEE ALSO OTHER TONI MORRISON TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0679434364. $2000.00 |
