A Confederacy of Dunces [Second Printing in Dust Wrapper] by Toole, John Kennedy; Percy, Walker (Foreword) - 1980

Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Signed by professor and author Walker Percy on tipped-in leaf prior half-title page: "Walker Percy". Percy, a professor and author himself, was instrumental in having this discovered gem miraculously published. 1980 at title page and copyright page. First edition, stated second printing (2nd) in original wrapper. Light beige w/hint of green full cloth boards, black stylized spine titles, slight shelf wear. Pages near fine; no writing. Light olive endpapers. Bind fine; hinges intact. Dust wrapper, moderate shelf wear, rub; unclipped 12.95, protected in new clear sleeve. Second state wrapper, without the small stars and also without the Chicago Sun-Times blurb; Walker Percy summmary review at rear panel. Rare near fine second printing in very good wrapper. The author of this hilarious satire, John Kennedy Toole, took his own life at 32 after facing consistent rejection from nearly every American publisher. Toole's mother, finally was able to have her son's work posthumously published; and, as fate would have it, the satirical novel won the Pulitzer Prize. "A masterwork of comedy... pungent slapstick, sature and intellectual incongruities... make for a grand comic fugue" (New York Time). Presented here is "a great slob of a man in violent revolt against the entire twentieth century!" This book's unusual path to success began in 1976 when John Kennedy Toole's mother Thelma, using a walker, hobbled into the office of novelist Walker Percy at Loyola University. She was followed by a chauffeur carrying a manuscript that she told Mr. Percy was a ''masterpiece''. Percy reluctantly agreed to read it. He became entranced as he read, and decided that the novel was ''a major achievement, a huge comic-satiric-tragic one-of-a-kind rendering of life in New Orleans.'' After several more publishers rejected the book, Louisiana State University Press agreed to take a chance with a first printing of only 2,500. The soon to be Pulitzer Prize winner went on to 50,000 copies in hard cover and nearly 600,000 in paperback within three years. Manufactured in the United States of America. 338 pages. Insured post.. Signed by Contributor. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. Illus. by Lindlof, Ed (Wrapper Illustration). 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.