James Baldwin. First American edition, first printing. NAP. New York: The Dial Press, 1956. The unclipped dust jacket, in Very Good condition, has the original price $3.00 still intact on the inside flap. There is some minor chipping on top of spine. The hardcover, in Very Good+ condition, has former owner signature on flyleaf, otherwise no other markings or writing found in the book, 248 pp. The dust jacket was designed by Seymour Chwast. Preceeded the UK first edition.
Set in the 1950's Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. Baldwin's landmark second novel, noteworthy for bringing complex representations of homosexuality and bisexuality to a reading public with empathy and artistry. The novel makes "clear that Baldwin could work wonders with the light and shade of intimacy, that he could move easily and effortlessly into a whispered prose… then, with equal facility, evoke the excitement of a crowded bar filled with sexual expectation" (New Yorker).
