Shaft by Ernest Tidyman

TIDYMAN, Ernest. Shaft. New York, Macmillan, 1970.

First edition of this novel introducing private investigator John Shaft, in a handsome jacket designed by Mozelle Thompson.

John Shaft is an African-American private investigator based in New York City. ‘He’s the loner. The rock-existentialist from Harlem. The beautiful black with soul, guts, and hormones. Shaft’s the name and the game’ (blurb).

Shaft quickly gained popularity, with six more books by Tidyman published between 1971 and 1975, and three films and a television series starring Richard Roundtree as John Shaft. The franchise saw a revival in recent years, with two additional films and a novel released between 2000 and 2019.

For creating the Shaft series, Tidyman became one of the few white individuals to win an award from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).

Octavo, pp. 188; near fine; red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge trimmed, fore and bottom edges untrimmed, white dust jacket printed in black and red (head of spine bumped, spotting to edges of text block, jacket with short closed tear to foot of front joint); in a contemporary custom-made slipcase.