Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Baldwin, James. Just Above My Head (Signed Limited Edition). The Dial Press, New York, 1979.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Cloth 8vo. Issued without dustwrapper and housed in a cloth-covered slipcase. 597 pp. Stated first eidition of this novel by the author of Giovanni's Room, Nobody Knows My Name and many other novels and collections of essays. One of five hundred numbered and SIGNED copies. Light toning to spine color else a fine copy. The matching slipcase shows some offsetting and is in otherwise very good condition. Surprisingly uncommon in this edition.
Seller: Derringer Books, Member ABAA, Avon, CT, U.S.A.
BALDWIN, James. Just Above My Head. The Dial Press, New York, 1979.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition, limited edition. Quarto. 597pp. Fine in maroon cloth boards with gilt lettering and page ends with matching near fine slipcase with light wear and wrinkle at one corner. One of 500 Signed and numbered copies.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Baldwin, James. Just Above My Head. New York: The Dial Press, 1979.
Price: US$1300.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Octavo, burgundy cloth lettered in gilt; unclipped dust jacket, with a touch of edge-wear. First American edition. A presentation copy, inscribed: "For Paula = Godspeed. James Baldwin," on the dedication page. A gorgeous copy.
Seller: North Star Rare Books & Manuscripts, Sheffield, MA, U.S.A.
Baldwin, James. JUST ABOVE MY HEAD. The Dial Press, New York, 1979.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: Signed limited first edition of Baldwin's last and longest novel, an attempt to "face [his] own legends," built around the story of a Black musician's life told by his brother. Baldwin's epic and ambitious late novel, written from the author's house in St-Paul-de-Vence, works toward a glimpse of a "utopian domestic space occupied by two black men in love" (Zaborowska) in its final pages: a much longed for, hard-won, and briefly held space for work and happiness. "It was beautiful to watch them; freedom is an extraordinary spectacle." 9'' x 6''. Original burgundy cloth, gilt-lettered spine and front board. All edges gilt, cream endpapers. In original burgundy cloth slipcase, lettered in gilt to one side. 597, [1] pages. Signed by Baldwin on limitation page, number 258 of 500 specially printed signed and numbered copies.
Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
BALDWIN, James. Just Above My Head. The Dial Press, New York, 1979.
Price: US$2250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1979 First US Edition with no subsequent dates listed, signed "God Bless" by James Baldwin on title page. 597pp, octavo bound in burgundy cloth. slight bumping to front fore-edge corners, faint fading to spine ends, minor discoloration to front and rear book crown, tight binding, light soiling top page edges, interior clean throughout, Very Good+; dj covers clean, 3 small chips top dj spine, not price-clipped, in mylar, Very Good. Signed by author.
Seller: COLLINS BOOKS, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Baldwin, James. Just Above My Head.. The Dial Press, New York, 1979.
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of the last novel published in Baldwin's lifetime. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the dedication page, "for my beloved David Adams Leeming: Godspeed. Jimmy Baldwin." The recipient, literary scholar David Adams Leeming, and Baldwin were close friends for twenty-five years. Leeming published his James Baldwin: A Biography in 1994, a vivid and intimate portrait of Baldwin, his complexities, and importance in the literary canon. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Jack Ribik. An exceptional association. Baldwin's epic novel of intertwined families, spanning three decades, "is the work of a born storyteller at the height of his powers, a man who, now that he is older and more mature, has truly come into his own. As the most celebrated black American novelist, Baldwin has given his readers a comprehensive and comprehending examination of race and sexuality and suggested some of the ways in which the politics of color can shape the transactions of love" (Washington Post). "It seems impossible for Baldwin to write with anything other than eloquence. His great and peculiar power is to recreate the maddening halfway house that the black man finds himself in late-20th-century America" (New Yorker). In an interview given just before publication of this work, his last novel published in his lifetime, Baldwin observed that he was able to "finally come full circle. From Go Tell It on the Mountain to Just Above My Head sums up something of my experienceâ"it's difficult to articulate â"that sets me free to go someplace else" (New York Times).
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Description: Limited Signed (10) 597 pp., No. 305 of a limited ed. of 500 copies, signed by J. Baldwin. Bound in Burgundy colour cloth over board with gilt titles, all edges gilt, in same colour slip case still in publisher's shrink wrap. Fine, NEW
Seller: Book Stage, Stratford, ON, Canada