NY, Knopf, 1974. The Nobel Laureate's second novel, which uses the theme of the friendship between two African-American women to explore issues of race, conformity and expectations within the black community, and within the larger white society. Inscribed by Morrison in 1978 to author, historian, and English professor Saunders Redding and his wife: "To the Reddings from Toni Morrison. Warmest regards and my very best wishes." With Saunders' signature on the title page. Saunders Redding was a pioneering critic of African-American literature and is believed to have been the first African-American to teach at an Ivy League university, when he was a visiting professor at his alma mater, Brown University, in 1949. He wrote a number of books focusing on African-American literature and history, and in the 1970s he was a member of the influential Haverford Group -- an informal think tank of accomplished African-American men who met to strategize about ways to defeat segregation and racism. An extraordinary association copy between the Nobel Prize winner Morrison and one of her most accomplished African-American literary forebears. Fine in a fine dust jacket but for two tiny edge tears on the back panel. In custom clamshell case. [#032896] SOLD