Books

SIGNED - Mass Market Paperback. White spine and rear cover, artwork front cover. White portions are now a light cream color, but artwork is still pretty vivid. Light rubbing at the head and tail of the spine and at the tips of the four outside corners. Light rubbing all around the outside edges of the covers. Light readers crease along the front edge of the spine. Each cover has a couple faint wrinkles that can be seen when the book is held up against light. Very light ding in the outside edge of the front cover about two inches down from the tip of the upper corner - maybe 1/64". Signed, inscribed, and dated by the author's mother, who championed the manuscript and almost singlehandedly brought it to publication, in blue pen: "March 10, 1982 / Regards / from / John K. Toole's Mother, / Thelma D. Toole / to / Dear C--- H----." with a pen flourish on the lower edge. Binding is straight and tight. Pages have darkened to a tan color, but are clean and crisp. 415 pages. Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Rare.

A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole, published by Louisiana State University Press in 1980, 11 years after Toole's suicide. The book's title refers to an epigram from Jonathan Swift's essay, 'Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting': 'When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.' Set in New Orleans, the novel bursts with rich and vivid characters, especially the protagonist, Ignatius J. Reilly, whose comedic misadventures are a highlight of the narrative.