Juneteenth

First edition. Tall 8vo. Pp. xxiii, 368. Quarter-bound black cloth over forest green paper boards, with copper foil lettering on the spine; deckled fore-edges. With Introduction and Afterword by John F. Callahan. Stated First Edition, but as is common with Random House publications, the '1' is dropped from the first printing, resulting in a full number line of 24689753.

"It is Washington, D.C. in the 1950s and a race-baiting senator has just been shot on the Senate floor". Author's posthumously published second novel, assembled from notes by Ellison's literary executor John F. Callahan. Fragments of this 'work in progress' were published previously, including an excerpt titled "Juneteenth" in the Quarterly Review of Literature in 1965, and the story "Cadillac Flambé", published in American Review in 1973.

A fuller version of the 2,000-page manuscript Ellison toiled on for over four decades was brought out by Modern Library on February 2, 2010 under the title Three Days Before the Shooting.... Winner of the 1953 National Book Award for The Invisible Man. "A majestic narrative concept." –Toni Morrison