The Wall.
“Mankind must destroy anti-humanity before it becomes extinct itself": First edition of John Hersey's The Wall; Warmly inscribed by Him
The Wall.
HERSEY, John.
$850.00
Item Number: 139270
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1950.
First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “For Dr. Edgar Potts -with best wishes John Hersey From Barbara Johns, after her visit with Mitch en route to Williamsburg- Feb, 1950.” With an original Saturday Review article laid in. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, bookplate of Dr. Potts to the front pastedown some offsetting to the front free endpaper. Jacket design by George Salter. Rare and desirable signed.
The Wall is based on historical fact but using fictional characters and fictional diary entries, the work presents the background of the valiant but doomed Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of Jews against the Nazis. The Wall is a powerful presentation, in human terms, of the tragedy of the annihilation of European Jews. The novel relates the lives and actions of many different characters against the background of the Holocaust.
