McCullers, Carson (1917-1967) Two first editions in their original jackets.
1) The Member of the Wedding. New York: New Directions Books, 1951. First edition in play form, octavo; bound in red publisher's cloth, spine lettered in black, fore edge uncut; original pictorial dust jacket, unclipped (some scuffing to lower panel of jacket); 8 x 5 1/4 in.
2) Clock Without Hands. Boston: The Riverside Press, 1961. First edition, first printing, octavo; bound in full orange cloth with gilt-stamped title enclosed in a black stamped circle on front board, spine gilt-lettered, pale yellow top stain, golden ochre endpapers; in the original publisher's jacket with glassine circle cutout (minor waving, light edgewear to jacket); 8 1/8 x 5 3/8 in.
A mainstay of the Southern Gothic genre, McCullers is best known for her novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and its 1968 film adaptation. McCullers's literary works are defined by a deeply empathetic and humanistic treatment of loneliness, tragedy, and suffering in the Southern states. In the context of McCullers's personal life, these themes could be related to her unfulfilled desire for relationships with women, particularly with Annemarie Clarac-Schwarzenbach, of whom McCullers once wrote, "She had a face that I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life."
