Vintage Books

Join Vintage Books as we celebrate 100 years of James Baldwin—an iconic writer and activist who explored the complexities of race, identity, love, and class with searing foresight.

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Baldwin understood the assignment? Do you?  A civil right leaders and iconic author, we can all learn from. Whether it's to delve in the modern classics, discover his ethos of love, or even sharpen your own skills as a writer, GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN is a must-read for students of life. 

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Discover the brilliance of James Baldwin through his first novel, GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN. A story of self-discovery, grappling morality, identity, and so much more is accompanied by an insightful introduction from Roxane Gay, making it an ideal starting point for new readers.

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Every revolution requires inspiration. Millions of readers worldwide have found theirs here. Lessons in Chemistry. Now in paperback.

[ireadvintage]

Every revolution requires inspiration. Millions of readers worldwide have found theirs here. Lessons in Chemistry. Now in paperback.

[ireadvintage]

Every revolution requires inspiration. Millions of readers worldwide have found theirs here. Lessons in Chemistry. Now in paperback.

[ireadvintage]

This year marks the 100th anniversary of James Baldwin, an iconic writer and activist who fearlessly delved into the intricacies of race, identity, class, and love. To honor his legacy, we’ve redesigned a few of Baldwin’s most celebrated novels, including this deluxe edition of Giovanni’s Room. In this novel, David, an American who has relocated to Paris, finds himself torn between his suppressed desires and society's conventional notions of morality, masculinity, and identity. Ahead of its time, Baldwin's narrative presents a poignant queer love story that lays bare the unspoken complexities of the human heart.

The cover of the new deluxe edition of Giovanni’s Room features a vibrant painting by Baldwin’s friend and contemporary Beauford Delaney. The edition also has a new introduction by writer Kevin Young. Check out some of the digital-only art we commissioned Tumblr artists to create to celebrate Pride and Baldwin’s Centenary on our page, and pick up this elegant repackage of a literary classic.

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To celebrate the James Baldwin Centenary and Pride, we commissioned the very talented @dtaphanel to create art for Tumblr inspired by Baldwin's debut novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain. 

This powerful novel follows John, a stepson of a Pentecostal preacher, as he grapples with the complexities of his identity on his 14th birthday. The image depicts John lying on the ground, fully immersed in a religious vision and surrounded by members of the church—here rendered as saints (as members of the Pentecostal congregation will refer to one another). The image beautifully captures one of the novel's most climactic scenes. 

Read an excerpt from Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin:

“He knew without knowing how it had happened, that he lay on the floor, in the dusty space before the altar which he and Elisha had cleaned; and knew that above him burned the yellow light which he had himself switched on. . . .  

He wanted to rise—a malicious, ironic voice insisted that he rise—and, at once, to leave this temple and go out into the world. He wanted to obey the voice, which was the only voice that spoke to him; he tried to assure the voice that he would do his best to rise; he would only lie here a moment, after his dreadful fall, and catch his breath. It was at this moment, precisely, that he found he could not rise; something had happened to his arms, his legs, his feet-ah, something had happened to John! And he began to scream again in his great, bewildered terror, and felt himself, indeed, begin to move—not upward, toward the light, but down again, a sickness in his bowels, a tightening in his loin-strings; he felt himself turning, again and again, across the dusty floor, as though God's toe had touched him lightly. And the dust made him cough and retch; in his turning the center of the whole earth shifted, making of space a sheer void and a mockery of order, and balance, and time. Nothing remained: all was swallowed up in chaos.”

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🍒 An Excerpt from Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin 🍒

"Giovanni had awakened an itch, had released a gnaw in me. I realized it one afternoon, when I was taking him to work via the Boulevard Montparnasse. We had bought a kilo of cherries and we were eating them as we walked along. We were both insufferably childish and high-spirited that afternoon and the spectacle we presented, two grown men jostling each other on the wide sidewalk and aiming the cherry pits, as though they were spitballs, into each other's faces, must have been outrageous. And I realized that such childishness was fantastic at my age and the happiness out of which it sprang yet more so; for that moment I really loved Giovanni, who had never seemed more beautiful than he was that afternoon. And, watching his face, I realized that it meant much to me that I could make his face so bright, I saw that I might be willing to give a great deal not to lose that power. And I felt myself flow toward him, as a river rushes when the ice breaks up. Yet, at that very moment, there passed between us on the pavement another boy, a stranger, and I invested him at once with Giovanni's beauty and what I felt for Giovanni I also felt for him. Giovanni saw this and saw my face and it made him laugh the more. I blushed and he kept laughing and then the boulevard, the light, the sound of his laughter turned into a scene from a nightmare. I kept looking at the trees, the light falling through the leaves. I felt sorrow and shame and panic and great bitterness. At the same time—it was part of my turmoil and also outside it—I felt the muscles in my neck tighten with the effort I was making not to turn my head and watch that boy diminish down the bright avenue. The beast which Giovanni had awakened in me would never go to sleep again; but one day I would not be with Giovanni anymore. And would I then, like all the others, find myself turning and following all kinds of boys down God knows what dark avenues, into what dark places? With this fearful intimation there opened in me a hatred for Giovanni which was as powerful as my love and which was nourished by the same roots." Scene art of Giovanni and David walking the Boulevard du Montparnasse created by the talented @emilypaik​. Commissioned for Tumblr by Vintage Books in celebration of the James Baldwin Centenary.

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of James Baldwin, an incredible writer and activist who fearlessly delved into the complexities of race, identity, love, and class. To celebrate Pride and the centenary, we teamed up with the talented @dtaphanel to create this incredible Tumblr artwork inspired by Baldwin's first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain. Published back in 1953, Baldwin once said, "Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else." 

This is the second image in Danielle Taphanel’s series which captures a gripping wrestling scene from the book. It shows the intense face-off between Elisha, a respected teen in the church, and John, the troubled stepson of a preacher. It's a scene filled with cruelty, curiosity, confusion, and even a hint of pleasure. Taphanel's artwork, done in the style of ancient Greek classical wrestling called Pankration, brings this moment to life. 

Made for Tumblr, the art is not featured on any edition of the book. 

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This month, in celebration of Pride and James Baldwin's crucial contributions to queer literature, we have commissioned Emily Paik, @emilypaik, an illustrator based in South Korea, to create a Tumblr-only, reimagined cover for Baldwin's second novel, Giovanni’s Room. The illustration captures the turmoil of the novel’s protagonist, David, as he is faced with his unavoidable reflection in a darkened room.

“The body in the mirror forces me to turn and face it. And I look at my body, which is under sentence of death. It is lean, hard, and cold, the incarnation of a mystery. And I do not know what moves in this body, what this body is searching. It is trapped in my mirror as it is trapped in time and it hurries toward revelation.” —James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room

This year marks 100 years of James Baldwin, an iconic writer and activist whose work explores the complexities of race, identity, love, and class with searing foresight. The digital-only artwork was made exclusively for Tumblr and is not featured on any purchasable edition.

[ireadvintage]

This month, in celebration of Pride and James Baldwin's crucial contributions to queer literature, we commissioned digital artist Danielle Taphanel, @dtaphanel, to create a Tumblr-only, reimagined cover for Baldwin's debut novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, one of America’s greatest classics.

Danielle Taphanel, a self-taught, disabled, non-binary, first-generation Filipino-Latino artist who loves plants and folklore, delicately captures the mosaic of themes presented in a book titled after a beloved Black American spiritual song of the same name.

This year marks 100 years of James Baldwin, an iconic writer and activist whose work explores the complexities of race, identity, love, and class with searing foresight. The digital-only artwork was made exclusively for Tumblr and is not featured on any purchasable edition.