Bel Kaufman

Up the Down Staircase [Signed]

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964. Very Good + / Very Good +. Item #30300

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964. First Edition. Octavo (21.5 cm), [x], 340pp. Tan publishers dust jacket with pink, orange, and black printing, author photo on back, and price intact ($4.95). Boards full bound in sandy gray with orange and purple stamping on the spine. Dark orange endsheets. Dust jacket lightly soiled, most noticeably on the author photo. Spine toned and has damp staining on bottom half. Sticker residue on back cover. Verso spine significantly toned. Minor bumps and tears to the margins and spine ends. Board corners and spine ends lightly bumped. Spine slightly discolored with damp staining to tail end. Light soiling around margins and joints. Minor scratch to top edge. Top corners of pages 247-250 creased. All other pages appear clean. A Very Good or better copy in a Very Good or better jacket.

Signed by Bel Kaufman without inscription on front free endsheet. This epistolary novel tells the story of an idealistic and frustrated English teacher trying to instill the love of learning in her students, only to be thwarted at every turn, it seems, by bureaucracy, institutional incompetence, and her pupil’s indifference. Made into a movie in 1967 starring Sandy Dennis as English teacher Sylvia Barrett, the story shows not only the follies and foibles of the American school system but also the roles offered to women in mid-1960s American society.

Price: $150.00