Description
The first edition, first printing of Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee.
Octavo, [6], 278pp. Black hardcover, title in silver on spine. Stated “First Edition” on the copyright page, with a full number line. Appears unread. In the publisher’s first state dust jacket, $27.99 retail price on the front flap, a fine example.
HarperCollins Publishers originally marketed Go Set a Watchman as a sequel to Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird. Upon release, it became clear to readers that Watchman was a first draft of Mockingbird, due to repeated passages, characterizations, and themes between the two novels. This was confirmed by the papers of literary agents Annie Laurie Williams and Maurice Crain, which detail years of revisions by Lee and the publishing team.
