SOUTHERN COMING-OF-AGE EPIC

Wolfe, Thomas (1900–1938)

Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life [Deluxe Illustrated Edition]

New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963. Illustrations by Douglas W. Gorsline. Deluxe Illustrated Edition.
THOMAS WOLFE’S GREAT SOUTHERN EPIC IN A DELUXE ILLUSTRATED EDITION
This handsome illustrated edition of Thomas Wolfe’s towering autobiographical masterpiece, pairs the emotional intensity of Wolfe’s prose with the dramatic black-and-white illustrations of Douglas W. Gorsline. Issued by Scribner’s during the mid-century revival of Wolfe scholarship, this deluxe edition transforms the modern American classic into a visually ambitious literary object.

Originally published in 1929, Look Homeward, Angel remains one of the defining coming-of-age novels of American literature. Through the fictionalized life of Eugene Gant, Wolfe reconstructed his youth in Asheville, North Carolina, creating a sweeping portrait of family, ambition, loneliness, memory, and the restless hunger for experience that would define much of twentieth-century Southern literature.

PHYSICAL FEATURES: Publisher’s cloth with gilt titles and decorative stamping; top edge stained dark blue. Deluxe Illustrated Edition / First Thus. Extensive black-and-white illustrations by Douglas W. Gorsline, appearing both full-page and throughout the text. Octavo; 9.5 inches tall; 662 pages.

CONDITION: Very Good in a Very Good Dust Jacket — The bindings are tight and square. Text clean with light, even toning. Moderate shelf handling wear. The illustrated dust jacket priced at $10.00 shows small rubs at the upper spine corners and slight sun-fading to the spine. A handsome and highly presentable copy.

Bibliographic Reference: Johnson A2.4.f — First Illustrated Thus.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE —
Look Homeward, Angel announced Thomas Wolfe as one of the major new voices of American literature. Drawing deeply from his own upbringing in Asheville, North Carolina, Wolfe transformed autobiography into mythic literary architecture, creating a sprawling emotional narrative unlike anything in American fiction at the time.

The novel became foundational to Southern literary modernism and strongly influenced later writers including Jack Kerouac, Ray Bradbury, and Philip Roth. Eugene Gant’s restless longing for identity and meaning established a template for the twentieth-century American literary outsider.

This 1963 illustrated edition reflects the period when Wolfe’s reputation had become fully institutionalized within the American canon. Scribner’s deluxe presentation, combined with Douglas Gorsline’s expressive illustrations, elevated the book beyond standard reprint status into a collector-oriented literary production.

Subjects: Thomas Wolfe, Southern Literature, Asheville North Carolina, American Modernism, Eugene Gant, Douglas W. Gorsline, Coming-of-Age Fiction, Literary Classics, Scribner’s Editions, American Fiction, Southern Literature, American Modernism, Literary Fiction, Illustrated Literature, Bildungsroman.

Item #22032

Price: $75.00