LArtificiel N*gger / Un homme bon est difficile économies à trouver. Flannery OConnor 1ère édition

O'CONNOR, Flannery. The Artificial Nigger [A Good Man is Hard to Find]. London: Neville Spearman. 1957. 8vo. First British edition. Publisher's red cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dust jacket which goes uncredited. A very good copy overall, the cloth clean and bright, the binding tight and square. A few light marks to the textblock, the contents largely fine but for some light foxing to endpapers and half-title, a few spots to prelims else fine. The dust jacket price-clipped, the spine panel faded, with several small nicks and closed tears, a couple of creased edges and tape repair to verso front panel.

The bizarrely retitled British edition of O'Connor's first short story collection and second published work, published in the US in 1955 as A Good Man is Hard to Find. The collection contains probably her best short story and certainly her most anthologised, ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find', but her British publishers, Neville Spearman, opted for another short story as the title. Such was her talent, most of the stories here are remarkable, including this cataloguer's own favourite, Good Country People. The UK edition is scarce.