The Bluest Eye was published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, in the spring of 1970, in a first printing of approximately 2,000 copies priced at $4.95. The novel sold poorly and went out of print within a year. Morrison was thirty-nine years old, a single mother of two, working as an editor at Random House. The book received scattered but perceptive reviews — The New York Times called it “a prose so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry” — but attracted little commercial attention. It was only after the success of Song of Solomon (1977) and especially Beloved (1987) that The Bluest Eye was recognised as the opening statement of one of the greatest careers in American literature.
The Novel
The Bluest Eye is set in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison’s birthplace), in 1941. Its central figure is Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old Black girl who is ugly by every standard her world imposes — standards derived from white culture (Shirley Temple, Dick and Jane, blue-eyed baby dolls). Pecola prays to God for blue eyes, believing that beauty will make her visible, lovable, and safe. She is raped by her father, Cholly Breedlove, becomes pregnant, and goes mad.
The novel’s formal innovation lies in its refusal of a single perspective. Morrison narrates through multiple voices — the community (represented by the MacTeer sisters, Claudia and Frieda), the omniscient author, and the characters themselves — creating a prismatic portrait of how racism destroys from within. The Dick-and-Jane primer that opens the novel (progressively losing its spacing and punctuation until it becomes an undifferentiated mass of words) is a structural metaphor: the orderly white world dissolves into meaninglessness when applied to Black experience.
Morrison’s treatment of Pecola’s father Cholly is characteristic of her method: she refuses to reduce him to a monster. His rape of his daughter is presented (not excused) within the context of his own brutalised life — orphaned, humiliated, systematically denied tenderness. The novel traces the transmission of damage across generations without ever absolving the individuals who inflict it.
Significance and Controversy
The Bluest Eye is one of the most frequently banned books in American schools — challenged for its sexual content, its language, and its depiction of incest and rape. Morrison was characteristically unrepentant: the novel’s subject demands that it be uncomfortable. The discomfort is the point.
The novel’s critical reputation has grown steadily. It is now recognised as one of the founding texts of contemporary African-American women’s literature, and its influence extends to writers as diverse as Jamaica Kincaid, Sapphire, and Jesmyn Ward.
Collecting The Bluest Eye
First edition (1970, Holt, Rinehart and Winston): Approximately 2,000 copies, priced at $4.95.
Identification points:
- “First Edition” on the copyright page
- Published by “Holt, Rinehart and Winston”
- Number line present
- Blue/green cloth boards (some copies have been noted in variant bindings)
First edition, first printing:
- Fine/Fine in dust jacket: $10,000–$30,000
- Near Fine in jacket: $5,000–$10,000
- Without jacket: $500–$1,500
The tiny first printing, combined with the book’s commercial failure (many copies were remaindered or destroyed), makes this one of the rarest modern American literary firsts. Fine copies in jacket are genuinely scarce — fewer appear at auction each year.
Signed copies: Extremely rare from 1970. Morrison was unknown and the book’s commercial failure precluded signing events. Later signatures on first editions occasionally appear but are uncommon for this title specifically. Signed copies: $15,000–$50,000.
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Approximately 2.5–3× for fine copies in jacket. The combination of extreme scarcity, Morrison’s Nobel Prize stature, and sustained institutional demand makes this one of the most rapidly appreciating modern American firsts.
Is The Bluest Eye a Good Investment?
Emphatically yes. The tiny first printing ensures permanent scarcity; Morrison’s canonical status ensures permanent demand; and the novel’s importance as a founding text of African-American women’s literature gives it institutional significance that transcends individual collecting trends. It is one of the best-performing literary investments of the past decade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this book so expensive compared to Morrison’s other firsts? The approximately 2,000-copy first printing (versus 15,000 for Song of Solomon or 30,000 for Beloved) creates genuine scarcity. Supply is permanently limited while demand continues to grow.
Is this book really banned? It is one of the most challenged books in American libraries and schools. The challenges focus on its sexual content (particularly the incest/rape scenes) and language. Morrison consistently defended the book’s necessity.