Faulkner, William. ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

New York: Random House, 1936. First edition. 8vo. One of 300 numbered copies signed by the author. The novel is widely acknowledged as Faulkner's supreme novelistic achievement, an assessment that the author himself is on record as agreeing with.

Thomas Sutpen, a zealously ambitious, poverty-stricken Virginian, migrates to Mississippi and, with the aid of a band of formidable Negro slaves, builds a 100-acre plantation, and ultimately succumbs to a tragic end. The story, narrated in flashbacks by several individuals, is based on the Biblical tale of King David and his ill-fated son, Absalom.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, "Absalom, Absalom!" contains the longest sentence in literature, a 1268-wordtour de force. Fine in custom-made clamshell box.