Intruder in the Dust

New York: Random House, 1948.

Price: $30,000.00

Hardcover. First edition. Lettering rubbed and smudged on the boards, a couple of tiny stains or foxing on a couple of leaves, about very good in very near fine dustwrapper with a couple of very short tears (the jacket was likely married to the book, as it came to us). Housed in a custom blue cloth clamshell case with morocco spine-label gilt, one corner of the case bumped, else fine.

Ownership signature of Malcolm Franklin, twice, on the front pastedown: "M. Franklin 29 Sept. '48" and below that "M. Argyle Franklin, D. of Biophysics, U. of M. Med. Center, Jackson, Miss." Inscribed by Franklin's step-father on the front fly: "Buddy from Poppy. Rowan Oak. 29 Sept 1948." Additionally Signed by Faulkner on the title page: "William Faulkner. Oxford, Miss. 29 Sept 1948." According to his bio on the Mississippi Writers web page, Malcolm was "[b]orn in 1923 in China, Malcolm Franklin is the son of Cornell and Lida Estelle Franklin and the stepson of author William Faulkner. He lived with Faulkner in Oxford, Mississippi, beginning at age six when Faulkner and his mother married in 1929. William Faulkner called Malcolm by his nickname Buddy. Franklin served as a medic during World War II. He died in 1977. His book, *Bitterweeds: Life with William Faulkner at Rowan Oak* (1977) is his memoir about life with Faulkner."

Because Faulkner was obligated by contract to sign limited editions, he would rarely inscribe books, except to his very closest friends and family, and sometimes not even then. Genuine inscribed copies of his early works are rare. In the fall of 1931, Faulkner told Alfred A. Knopf, who approached him with books he had hoped to get inscribed: “People stop me on the street and in elevators and ask me to sign books, but I can’t afford to do this because special signed editions are part of my stock-in-trade. Aside from that, I only sign books for my friends” (Blotner, p.294).

A wonderful association copy of this novel about murder and the mass mind, the popularity of which was instrumental in gaining Faulkner the Nobel Prize. Basis for the 1949 Clarence Brown film, considered one of the most powerful films about racial prejudice ever made. *Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone*.

Item #457886
ISBN: 0394603516

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Item #457886 Intruder in the Dust. William FAULKNER.
Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust

William Faulkner
birth name: William Cuthbert Falkner
born: 9/25/1897
died: 7/6/1962
nationality: USA

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Biography

Novelist and short story writer best known for his cycle of works set in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha, Mississippi. Faulkner (who added a "u" to his surname in 1924) began writing poetry but then developed a complicated, stream-of-consciousness prose style. Though appreciated in literary circles, by 1945 all his works from the productive previous two decades were out of print. In 1944 Malcolm Cowley and others initiated a critical reassessment of his life work as a cohesive whole, and within a few years he became the most lauded and studied living American author. Standard references include Joseph Blotner's biography (published 1974, revised 1984), the Catalog of the Carl Peterson Collection (1991) and Joseph Brodkey's multi-volume bibliographies of his own collection.more

Collecting tips:

Faulkner provides opportunities for the beginning collector, and challenges for the veteran collector. After his literary reassessment in the late 1940s Faulkner's works were printed in larger numbers and collectible copies of most of his later works are readily available. Prior to this, however, Faulkner was neither widely read nor appreciated. Fine copies of his early works are particularly difficult to obtain. Faulkner was also famously averse to signing trade editions of his books -- it is generally easier to find signed limited editions while authentic signed trade editions command a premium (and often have amusing stories of provenance). Faulkner's first book, a generally regarded as juvenile collection of poems, The Marble Faun (1924) is very uncommon. Paid for by his friend Phil Stone, the cardboard spine is often perished (or found restored), and the very thin paper jacket is often missing or heavily restored. Ironically, but not too surprisingly, this is the one Faulkner title that can be found signed, as he must have sent off a batch of them in the first flush of authorial pride. Signed or not however, you'll probably have to pay the equivalent of a luxury car for a jacketed copy. Perhaps more difficult to find in any kind of jacket is his first novel Soldier's Pay (1926). Copies in fine jackets are rare. Another one to look out for is Turnabout, a short story that was separately published in Canada in 1939 (in a sort of cheesy purple velour binding, issued without jacket) without the author's permission. Reportedly only about 50 copies were published, and while its hard to argue for its importance, its easy to argue for its rarity. Reportedly, one of our Canadian colleagues once noted a copy at a bookstore, and not knowing of its significance, but finding it intriguing, reported it to another American dealer, who immediately sent him off to secure it. However, before he did so, the Canadian dealer insisted on attending a poetry reading, which diversion from the mission nearly gave his American friend a coronary (all's well though - he did eventually secure the book). Thus if you are standing next to me, or any other first edition dealers of a certain age, who are scheming amongst themselves about the advisability of buying a certain book, and one says to the other "and remember, no poetry readings," you'll know what they're talking about.

Email us to request a printed copy of our catalog of William Faulkner Rare Books and First Editions (or download it via the link as a 2.65 MB pdf file).

We also offer a comprehensive William Faulkner Bibliography and Price Guide.more