New Masses: An Anthology of the Rebel Thirties
New York: International Publishers, 1969. First Edition.
Octavo (8 1/8 x 5 1/2 inches; 218 x 140 mm), 318 pages, in red boards, gilt titles to spine, in an illustrated, unclipped dust jacket.
INSCRIBED by Joseph North, the editor, on the front end paper to artist Raphael Soyer and his wife Rebecca: "You were inspirers of this book. With love, Joe North." Inscribed and dated in the year of publication. A nice association: Soyer was a socialist realist artist who taught at the John Reed Club, the New School for Social Research, and the Art Students' League.
The book consists of fiction, reportage, and essays from the pages of New Masses, a left-wing literary magazine that was published from 1926-1948. With work by Ernest Hemingway, Muriel Rukeyser, Theodore Dreiser, James Agee, Kenneth Patchen, John Dos Passos, Dorothy Parker, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Federico Garcia Lorca (translated by Langston Hughes), Mike Gold, and Henri Barbuse, among many others. Numerous drawings and cartoons by Bill Gropper, John Groth, Gardner Rea, Mischa Richter, and others. Prologue by Joseph North and Introduction by Maxwell Geismar.
Signed or inscribed copies of the book are quite scarce in commerce.
CONDITION: Spine crease, severe bump to the lower edge of the rear board, soiling to top edge but internally clean and bright. The unclipped dust jacket has a corner tear to the lower front flap. a small nick to the upper front flap, small chip to the upper rear panel, and a fair amount of soiling. Very Good overall. Item #665
Price: $350.00