Intruder in the Dust

New York: Random House, 1948. Hardcover. Very Good/Near Fine. 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*.