8vo. Original black cloth; dust jacket (light toning to extremities).

FIRST EDITION. The Autobiography of Malcolm X was originally slated to be published by Doubleday, with the publisher opting to cancel its contract following the assassination of Malcolm X on February 21, 1965; this move has since been called "the most disastrous decision in corporate publishing history." Its influence on the civil rights movement and American culture as a whole is immeasurable, with Time naming it one of ten "required reading" non-fiction books in 1998.