Books

First edition, first printing, of the author's influential first novel, which "cut a new path through the American literary landscape by placing black girls at the center of the story" (Als). Its lasting importance was recognized in 1993 when Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Morrison wrote the novel "in stolen moments between her day job as a book editor and her life as the single mother of two young sons" (New York Times, 6 August 2019). It received little critical attention on publication, though the distinguished critic John Leonard was unstinting in his praise, describing Morrison's prose as "so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry" (New York Times, 13 November 1970). Hilton Als, "Toni Morrison's Profound and Unrelenting Vision", New Yorker, 27 January 2020; Margalit Fox, "Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88", The New York Times, 6 August 2019; John Leonard, "Three First Novels on Race", The New York Times, 13 November 1970. Octavo. Original blue quarter cloth, spine lettered in silver, grey paper-covered sides. With dust jacket. Spine ends lightly bumped and sunned, occasional ink underlinings to contents; unclipped jacket slightly toned as usual, faint vertical crease to front flap as always: a very good copy in near-fine dust jacket.

The Bluest Eye is the first novel written by Toni Morrison. It was published in 1970 and is set in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison's hometown. The story is about Pecola Breedlove, an African-American girl who prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be considered beautiful and gain the affection and acceptance of her community.

First edition identification includes a copyright date of 1970 with no additional printings listed.