Bless Me, Ultima Anaya, Rudolfo

A classic of Chicano Literature, Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya, Hardbound, Quinto Sol Publications, Berkeley. CA, 1972, First Printing stated. Publishers original black boards with silver lettering on spine. Boldly inscribed by the author in front free end page. No writing, underlining, or highlighting on interior pages which are fresh and clean, the print still smells good. First issue dust jacket with original $3.75 price on back of jacket, upper right corner. Hardbound and paperbacks of this book were issued simultaneously and the paperback price of $3.75 was mistakenly printed on the hardbound copies as well but was quickly changed making this first issue jacket a rarity. Dust jacket has front panel shelf wear which is common to this book, slight shelf wear to edges, one small tear top left corner of front panel and small chip from rear panel top edge. Book has slight bumping to 2 upper corners with very light bumping to top and bottom of spine. Overall, an excellent, scarce, inscribed copy. From Wikipedia: He began writing his best-known work Bless Me, Ultima in 1963, with the manuscript completed and published by Quinto Sol in 1972.[2] Initially, Anaya faced tremendous difficulty getting his work published by mainstream publishing houses because of its unique combination of English and Spanish language, as well as its Chicano-centric content.[8] Independent publishing house Quinto Sol quickly published the book after awarding it the Premio Quinto Sol in 1971 for best novel written by a Chicano.[2] The book went on to sell over 300,000 copies in 21 printings.[9] The themes and cultural references touched on in the novel were uncommon at the time of its publication. Consequently, it ended up having a lasting impact on a generation of Latino writers.