About this Item
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Shelton, Connecticut: The First Edition Library, 1980. First edition FACSIMILE. Slip case measures 9 x 6?. 439 p.
In very good condition. Slip case exhibits normal shelf wear; scuffing on corners and edges. Dust jacket and boards remain attractive. Text block is clean. Binding is tight and intact. Please see photos.
Invisible Man is Ralph Ellison?s first novel, and the only one published during his lifetime. It was first published by the British magazine Horizon in 1947, and addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faced by African Americans in the early 20th century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.
First Editions Library (FEL) is a series of exact facsimile replicas of the first editions published by Collectors? Reprint Inc. Founded in 1987 by Henry Reath, a former president and publisher of Doubleday; his wife, Mary; and Kemp Battle, who also worked at Doubleday, the company prided itself on publishing the best of American literature as it first appeared.
FEL facsimiles have the same weight, size, typeface, art, dust jacket, finish and texture as well as points of issue as the originals. In many cases, the Reaths and Battle waded into debate amongst themselves about which editions were indeed the first. With the mission of duplicating the originals as closely as possible, the publisher hired engravers to reproduce typefaces that are no longer used. They dyed both sides of paper to create a shade of green no longer available for the dust jacket on Thornton Wilder?s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The sewn bindings, stamping and even the original price on the jacket flap of FEL facsimiles are all exact replicas.
The heart of the FEL series is literary fiction of the 19th and 20th centuries, including modern classics like F. Scott Fitzgerald?s The Great Gatsby, Mark Twain?s Huckleberry Finn, Ernest Hemingway?s A Farewell to Arms, and William Faulkner?s Absalom Absalom. However, there are four categories of exception: James Bond series (14 titles), mystery series (13 titles), science fiction series (12 titles), and Published in Paris series (3 titles).
In total, FEL produced 112 titles. Sometime in the 1990s, FEL stopped production and sold the rights for 49 of its facsimiles to Easton Press. However, the remaining 63 titles are out-of-print.
RAREN1980ABCB
MC11 26/01.
Seller Inventory # RAREN1980ABCB
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