Quammen, David

To Walk the Line

ISBN: 039444907X
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1970. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by David Quammen. "Color is the subject of this serious, funny, scary, and human novel- color as a signal for tragic hostility and for farcical misunderstanding, color as a test for the young who want to change the world. The author tells the story of a young white Ivy Leaguer who makes an awkward alliance- built on a real potential for friendship between them and threatened by the inescapable politics of color- with a black militant." (from front flap) The first, semi-autobiographical novel by David Quammen, who has gone on to become an award-winning & prolific writer mostly on nonfictional subjects of nature, science & travel. Written & published when Quammen was only 22 years old & freshly graduated from Yale University, To Walk the Line is a sincere (if in hindsight somewhat dated) effort to grapple with issues of American race & class at the height of the 1960s-era cultural & societal tumult, through its story of the unlikely friendship & ultimate alliance between the white Ivy League student John Scully (largely based on Quammen himself) & the ghetto-dwelling black militant Tyrone Williams. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket with "10/70" printed near lower left corner of rear flap, first edition as stated on copyright page, one of 225 copies signed by Quammen on a sheet tipped-in to blank front endpaper. This is copy No. 9/225. The rarest version of the earliest Quammen collectible (especially with this low number); an exemplar of youthful idealism. Book in very fine condition with only slight rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a bit of wear & minor fading to edges & corners of same; very light browning to side & lower edges of text block (the former untrimmed as issued); moderate fading to yellow-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with mild browning & spotting to blank paste-downs & endpapers; otherwise substantially mint. Dust jacket very fine with just a touch of rubbing & sparse, light spotting to front, back covers, spine & flaps; slight wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4518]

Price: $80.00