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James Baldwin. Giovanni's Room. The Dial Press, 1956.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: Good; bumping to head and foot of spine, top edge of front cover, and bottom edge of rear cover; some rubbing to head and foot of spine; light tarnish and a few small reddish stains to black cloth spine; some reddish stain to paper along line of the cloth on rear cover; dust spots to all page edges, with mostly inconspicuous expression to edges of page surface on some pages; foxing to endpapers; very faint musty smell; else Fine. Hinges sound, spine straight, pages clean and bright except as noted. No original dust jacket; now protected by a new mylar jacket. First edition, with no additional printings noted.

Seller: Montecito Rare Books, Goleta, CA, U.S.A.

James Baldwin. Giovanni's Room. The Dial Press, 1956.

Price: US$1000.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, first printing of Baldwin's landmark second novel, noteworthy for bringing complex representations of homosexuality and bisexuality to a reading public with empathy and artistry. The novel makes "clear that Baldwin could work wonders with the light and shade of intimacy, that he could move easily and effortlessly into a whispered prose then, with equal facility, evoke the excitement of a crowded bar filled with sexual expectation" (New Yorker). New York: The Dial Press, 1956. Publisher's original boards over black cloth spine, lettered in silver; pp. (viii), 248. A very good or better copy in a good, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains sturdy and square with minimal wear to boards, top corners lightly bumped, minor stain to the foredge of the last handful of pages. Neat owner's inscription to the flyleaf and dedication page, else internally clean. Jacket shows some general shelfwear with chipping to spine tips, split along the flap folds with tape reinforcement to verso, toning to spine and back panel with a few minor stains. Protected in archival mylar.

Seller: Kevin Sell, The Rare Book Sleuth, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.

Baldwin, James. Giovanni's Room. The Dial Press, New York, 1956.

Price: US$1250.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: 8vo. Small light stain on fore-edge. Otherwise, near fine. DJ has edge chips, with two conspicuous ones lower front edge. Light soil besides.

Seller: White Fox Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Baldwin, James. Giovanni's Room. Dial Press, 1956, 1956.

Price: US$7000.00 + shipping

Description: 1st edition, first printing, of his second novel SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on the half-title page Near fine/near fine (price-clipped)

Seller: Reed's Rare Books, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.

Baldwin, James. Giovanni's Room.. The Dial Press, New York, 1956.

Price: US$7500.00 + shipping

Description: First edition of this landmark novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by James Baldwin on the half-title page. Fine in a very good dust jacket with light rubbing and wear to the extremities. Jacket design by Seymour Chwast. Rare and desirable signed. Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart. “If Van Gogh was our 19th-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our 20th-century one" (Michael Ondaatje).

Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.

Baldwin, James. Giovanni's Room.. The Dial Press, New York, 1956.

Price: US$7800.00 + shipping

Description: First edition of this landmark novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by James Baldwin on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch a shelfwear. Jacket design by Seymour Chwast. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional example. Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart. “If Van Gogh was our 19th-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our 20th-century one" (Michael Ondaatje).

Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.