Invisible Man by Ellison, Ralph - 1952

New York: Random House, 1952. First edition. [viii], 439, [1] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Publisher's black and tan cloth, top edge stained black. Very slight spotting to textblock edge, else fine, in the E. McKnight Kauffer dust-jacket with Gordon Parks photograph of the author on the rear panel, unclipped, lightly edgeworn, with small closed tear and crease to rear panel. First edition. [viii], 439, [1] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. 'I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me'. Ellison's National Book Award-winning first novel, the only published in his lifetime. "Immediately acclaimed by critics, it was recognized not merely as an excellent novel by a black author, but as a great literary achievement" (ANB). Set in the 1930s, the novel's hero is expelled from a college in the South and moves to New York City where he becomes a member of the Brotherhood. Engaging and dramatic, Invisible Man is a landmark work registering the social, cultural and political ideas and problems facing the black community in the mid-twentieth century. Blockson 86