Faulkner, William

The Sound and the Fury & As I Lay Dying … with a new appendix as a foreword by the author.  New York: Modern Library, 1946

8vo. Stains at lower right corner of title-page and first few leaves, paper very lightly yellowed. Publisher's cloth; stained, soiled and worn. Original dust-jacket; worn at extremities, foot of spine chipped, detached at lower joint of spine. Buckram cloth slipcase.

Petersen A6.5

Presentation copy of the first Modern Library edition to one of the most important influences on the author's career: "Phil and Emily Stone from Wm. Faulkner" on the front free endpaper. Also inscribed in an unidentified hand on the front pastedown.

Philip Avery Stone (1893-1967) used his influence to obtain for Faulkner the position of postmaster at the University of Mississippi in 1921. In 1924, Stone supervised the publication of The Marble Faun. In addition, Stone's many anecdotes of Lafayette County served as inspiration for Faulkner throughout his career. At age 12, Stone killed a bear at a hunting camp in the Delta, and this served as inspiration for Faulkner's great novella "The Bear." Beginning in the late 1920s a rift developed between the two friends. By the 1950's, Stone and Faulkner had become alienated from one another, owing to the latter's more liberal views on racial issues.

The foreword for this edition, "Compson 1699–1945," was first published earlier in 1946 in The Portable Faulkner. It was revised slightly for this edition.