Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

London: Allison & Busby, 1984. First U.K. Edition (and Second Edition overall). First Impression, cloth issue. Octavo (20.5cm); black paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; dustjacket; [2],lx,[vi],140,xxxiii,[3]pp. Early ink gift inscription to a preliminary blank, some of the usual subtle tanning to the text edges, and some scattered foxing to upper edge of textblock; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced £8.95 net), showing a hint of sunning to spine, some mild surface wear, and trivial foxing along the upper edge on verso; Near Fine. Second edition of what was long considered the first novel by an African-American woman (though that record is now contested by The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts, a manuscript purchased and vetted by Henry Louis Gates in 2001). Wilson's novel was rediscovered by Gates in 1981, and the second edition was published by Random House in 1983, with a long introduction by Gates. Like the Random House edition, the UK edition is elusive in commerce. BLOCKSON 9823 (for the 1983 Random House edition). 81636.