St Marys Books

First UK edition hardback bound in pale blue cloth with red line illustrations to cover, and printed title to spine. Original pictorial dust jacket, unclipped. Jacket has edge wear, particularly to spine edges with closed tears and shallow loss. Creasing to lower edges of jacket with some scuffing. Jacket illustrations remains bright, and overall the jacket is complete. Discolouration to fore edge of cloth cover, with patches of darkening over spine and along top edge. Light spotting to prelims. Pages themselves are clean and bright but for a touch of toning. Binding sound. Overall very good condition. 312 pp. The first UK edition was published just one year after that of the US. There are no recorded copies of this UK first edition ever having appeared on the market or at auction. The Street became the first novel written by an African' American woman to sell more than a million copies. Ann Petry (1908-1997) was inspired to write the book after moving to New York. While working an after-school program in Harlem, where the story is set, she witnessed first-hand the injustices faced by the black population. The book went on to win the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship, and is a scarce and important collectable work.