Inscribed to fellow author James Baldwin "to Jimmy from Toni 11.10.82". Toni Morrison and James Baldwin met when she was an editor at Random House, and she tremendously valued his work and his friendship. Morrison’s eulogy for Baldwin at his funeral in December 1987 was printed in The New York Times.

Author Jack Abbott spent much of his juvenile and adult life incarcerated. Due in part to the publishing of In The Belly of the Beast and the support of Norman Mailer, Abbott was paroled in 1981. However he killed a man six weeks later and returned to prison.

New York: Random House, 1981. Sixth Printing. 166 pages. 14.5 x 21.5 cm. Near fine book in very good dust jacket. This book’s provenance is via the late San Francisco bookseller Burton Weiss who bought it from Baldwin’s estate in St. Paul-de-Vence, France.