John Kennedy Toole. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Stated Second Printing. Hardcover. Tan/pale green cloth-covered boards with black lettering on spine, green endpapers, in illustrated jacket. 8vo; [i-v], vi-vii, [viii-xii], 338pp. Foreword by Walker Percy. Signed by Percy on the title page. In first issue, second state dj without stars present in the sky and with intensified blue title, but with Percy blurb only.

Private North Carolina Collection

A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981. Toole, a young academic and professor, wrote the novel in the early 1960s, beginning it while stationed by the Army in Puerto Rico. He died of suicide in 1969 without seeing his book published, but through the efforts of his mother who contacted writer Walker Percy, it was finally published eleven years after his death. LSU Press ran a first printing of 2,500 copies, but due to the number of positive early reviews decided to print an additional 5,000 copies weeks before publication.

Boards with light rubbing to head and tail of spine, slight separation from text block; internally fine with minor indentation to front endpaper and first (4) pages; jacket with light edgewear, tail bumped, not price clipped; very good to near fine in a very good jacket. Extremely rare in this condition.