The Gospel Singer, Harry Crews. Inscribed First Edition.

The Gospel Singer, Harry Crews First edition, first printing of Crews' debut novel, inscribed by the author to the half-title – "For Jim Wilkerson, Don't let the bastards beat you / Best (?) Harry Crews." New York: William Morrow & Co., 1968. Publisher's original green cloth, spine lettered in silver and black; pp. 248, [1]. A very good copy in a very good, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains tight, sturdy and square, minor shelfwear and bumping to boards. Traces of foxing to top edge of text block with a minor spot of discoloration to foredge. The endpapers and pastedowns show the typical fading which is apparently inevitable due to the glue used in production. Else internally quite clean. The dust jacket shows light shelfwear with the laminate a bit pushed near the front flap fold. A nice copy, protected in archival mylar.