Books

First edition, second printing. Early printing dust jacket - lacking the Walker Percy quote at the rear panel. Signed by author Walker Percy, who wrote the foreword for the book, on a professionally tipped in page from a signed limited edition, therefore the authenticity is guaranteed. This book measures approximately 9.25" x 6", with 338 numbered pages. This book is in very good plus condition. Minor stain to the foredge of the textblock. Interior pages are bright and clean. Dust jacket is in very good plus condition. Minor wear to both ends of spine and on corners of jacket. Original $12.95 price is present on the front flap. "A Confederacy of Dunces" remained unpublished for 11 years after the author's death. Toole's mother convinced Walker Percy to read the manuscript, who in turn convinced LSU to publish the book. The book went on to become a cult classic and earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. The novel's central character is an educated but slothful 30-year-old man living with his mother in the Uptown neighborhood of early 1960s New Orleans, who in his quest for employment, has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters. Please view the many other rare titles available for purchase at our store. We are always interested in purchasing individual or collections of fine books. Inventory #(O8-72).

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.