Index | Harper Lee

Major works Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American author known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007. Having written several long stories, Harper Lee located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year's wages with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Within a year, she had a first draft. Working with J. B. Lippincott & Co. editor Tay Hohoff, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird in the summer of 1959. Published July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller with more than 30 million copies in print. In 1999, it was voted "Best Novel of the Century" in a poll by the Library Journal. Source Wikipedia Sale Results LEE, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1960. 8vo. Publisher's cloth backed paper boards in original dust jaceket, housed in a custom leather clamshell case. Condition: light creasing and soiling, slight chipping to dust jacket with minimal loss, previous owner's signature on front endpaper. First Edition. Sold for $5000 Bloomsbury Auctions, New York, 25th February 2009. Copy pictured right.