To Kill A Mockingbird. 40th Anniversary Edition

(New York): HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. First printing of the 40th Anniversary Edition of To Kill A Mockingbird, originally published in 1960. Harper Lee’s account of racial politics in a sleepy Alabama town, told from the perspective of a quick-tempered young girl, won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction: “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down.” An immediate bestseller, To Kill A Mockingbird has remained in print ever since its first publication; in 1999, it was voted “Best Novel of the Century” in a poll by Library Journal. In Lee’s lifetime, her publisher issued special editions to mark the 35th, 40th, and 50th anniversaries of the novel. This is the 40th Anniversary edition, signed by Lee in blue ink on the half-title. A near-fine signed copy. Single volume, measuring 8 x 5.25 inches: [10], 323, [1]. Original dark grey paper boards stamped in silver and blind, terracotta endpapers, foreedge untrimmed. Original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket. Signed by Harper Lee on half-title. Lightest sunning to jacket spine panel.