REQUIEM FOR A NUN

New York: Random House, 1951. First Edition, First Issue. Cloth and boards. Very Fine/Fine. 8vo, black quarter cloth over pale green boards, Mylar-protected striking dust jacket depicting a blue-black padlock in front of an ambiguous yellow & brown backdrop, flap states jacket designed by "E. McKnight Kauffer," [vi] + 286 pages. A Superior copy of this noteworthy work by the great Faulkner. Internally bright, tight, immaculate, with solid text block; externally crisp and bright (though there is a slight trace of soil to the back of the bright dust jacket which also has a few tiny chips from the head and foot of the spine). Requiem is a tri-part drama with interwoven narrative sections that develop the story of Temple Drake, a young woman victimized by a moonshiner's pal. The author introduced her story two decades earlier in Sanctuary (1931). The play contains Faulkner's famous phrase: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Requiem for a Nun was also Faulkner's first book after winning the Nobel Prize, for which he made this memorable statement: "I Decline to accept the end of man. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice but he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance." As required for the 1st printing of the trade edition: there is no printing statement on the copyright-page; the front flap of the dust jacket mistakenly states "M. McKnight Kauffer" as the jacket artist; also with "$3.00" price & "Chocktaw" [sic] misspelled on p. 21. The top edge of pages are stained dark gray (as issued by publisher). Peterson A32 1b.1.