Invisible Man

E-260: Random House. Very Good in Fair dust jacket. 1952. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Hardcover. 8vo. Random House, New York. 1952. 439 pgs. Signed and inscribed by Ralph Ellison to literary critic Robert Langham on the titile page. First Edition/Fourth Printing. DJ has shelf-wear present (edges of the DJ is chipped and worn with a removed spine label present, missing the rear flap, front flap detached and trimmed down) Bound in cloth boards with titles present to the spine. Boards have light shelf-wear present to the extremities Text is free of marks. Binding tight and solid. We rely, in this world, on the visual aspects of humanity as a means of learning who we are. This, Ralph Ellison argues convincingly, is a dangerous habit. A classic from the moment it first appeared in 1952, Invisible Man chronicles the travels of its narrator, a young, nameless black man, as he moves through the hellish levels of American intolerance and cultural blindness. Searching for a context in which to know himself, he exists in a very peculiar state. "I am an invisible man," he says in his prologue. "When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination--indeed, everything and anything except me." But this is hard-won self-knowledge, earned over the course of many years. EB; 6.9 X 4.2 X 1.1 inches; 439 pages .