Skip to content

A Different Drummer

A Different Drummer

Click for full-size.

A Different Drummer

by Kelley, William Melvin

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Near Fine/Very Good+
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Portland, Oregon, United States
Item Price
£4,047.50
Or just £4,031.31 with a
Bibliophiles Club Membership
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 7 to 14 days
More Shipping Options

Payment Methods Accepted

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Discover
  • PayPal

About This Item

Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1962. First Edition. Near Fine/Very Good+. First edition, first printing. Signed by William Melvin Kelley on the front free endpaper with a lengthy, very personal inscription to Elizabeth Campbell, who was the second wife of photographer Gordon Parks, "6/14/62 For Liz:-- You must know, Skinny, that I'm pulling for you, that I wish you success in all things that you decide to do. All that you can wish or hope for is that the people you love get a little lucky, that they make the right guesses and choices. I'm sorry that's all I can give you. Love, [signed] Kelley." According to a relative of the author's this inscription was on the day of Campbell and Parks' wedding. Campbell and Kelley had grown up together, and her marrying Parks had come as a surprise.

Kelley didn't sign many books.

[xii], 223 pp. Original cloth, spine lettered in black. Near Fine with a little wear to head, very slight lean, endpapers slightly foxed, pages toned, in a Very Good+ unclipped dust jacket with rubbing along its edges, hint of soiling, wear at extremities. The African American author's acclaimed debut novel. After early success he became forgotten and all his work was out-of-print for many years; he was dubbed "The Lost Giant of American Literature" in a 2018 New Yorker piece in the midst of a revival of interest in his work, following topical notoriety for having coined the term "woke." Rare as a first edition, let alone with such a powerful inscription.

Reviews

(Log in or Create an Account first!)

You’re rating the book as a work, not the seller or the specific copy you purchased!

Details

Bookseller
Burnside Rare Books, ABAA US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
140939802
Title
A Different Drummer
Author
Kelley, William Melvin
Book Condition
Used - Near Fine
Jacket Condition
Very Good+
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First Edition
Publisher
Doubleday and Company
Place of Publication
Garden City, NY
Date Published
1962
Keywords
signed, inscribed, association copies, Gordon Parks
Bookseller catalogs
Literature;

Terms of Sale

Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2010
Portland, Oregon

About Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

Burnside Rare Books specializes in literary first editions and works of cultural and historic significance. We are located in Portland, Oregon and welcome visitors by appointment.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Good+
A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Edges
The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Rubbing
Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
Foxed
Foxing is the age related browning, or brown-yellowish spots, that can occur to book paper over time. When this aging process...
Jacket
Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...

This Book’s Categories

tracking-