"Petry is the writer we have been waiting for" (Tayari Jones)

THE STREET

By Ann Petry

(1946)

Inscribed early printing of this major mid-century novel, especially scarce signed by Petry.

Very good in like jacket.

Price: $1,000.00

THE STREET

"Ann Petry is increasingly recognized as one of the essential American novelists of the twentieth century." – Library of America

THE STREET is a powerful realist novel of social protest, exploring the oppressions at the intersection of race, gender, and class. In it, a Black single mother in Harlem seeking to live the American Dream fights against the seeming inevitability of her downfall. A tremendous success at the time, making Petry the first African-American woman to sell over 1 million copies, it has since fallen bafflingly into obscurity. As Tayari Jones remarked in the NEW YORK TIMES: "I recently reread The Street and I just can't figure out why this work is not more widely read and celebrated. After such a stunning reception in the 1940s, why hasn't this novel become a college staple? [...] Maybe a better question is what can be done to ignite an Ann Petry revival?" Highly desirable with the early inscription by Petry of February 23, 1946.

Read more: Tayari Jones, "In Praise of Ann Petry," NEW YORK TIMES, 10 November 2018.

The Object

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, (1946). 8'' x 5.25''. Original full grey cloth, illustration of a Harlem street stamped across boards, spine lettered in grey. Original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket, photographic portrait of the author by Edna Guy on rear panel. [8], 436 pages. Inscribed on front free endpaper: "For Estrelda Burrell / Ann Petry / Feb - 23 - 1946." A couple chips to dust jacket spine head, with some edgewear and a streak of rubbing down spine, some closed tears near folds. Glue remnants on front pastedown and facing endpaper. Rarely found in better condition.

The Fine Print

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