New York: Akashic Books, 2007. First Edition, First Printing. INSCRIBED by Amiri Baraka on the half title: "For / Chris /Amiri Baraka / 2/19/07." A collection of short stories, most of which had never been published. 8vo (8 1/4 inches / 21 cm), 221, [2] pages in wrappers. (There was no hardcover edition.) A Fine copy. More about Tales of the Out & the Gone
New York: Friendship Press, 1969. No Edition Stated. 12mo (7 1/8 x 4 1/8 inches; 180 x 106 mm), 122 pages, in pictorial wrappers. A Lutheran pastor in Oakland advocates political, social, and economic power for the black community. The white power structure, he argues, is responsible for black... More about Why Black Power?
[New York]: [Committee to Defend the Panthers], [1970]. No Edition Stated. Single sheet folded to create [4] pages, measuring 11 x 8 1/2 inches (280 x 215 mm) when folded. Leaflet seeking freedom for the New Haven Nine, who were indicted in connection with the murder of Alex Rackley, a.... More about Conspiracy to Murder: A Tool of Repression
New York: Committee to Defend the Panther 21, [1970]. First Edition Thus. Broadsheet measuring 11 x 8 1/2 inches (280 x 215 mm), printed both sides, text in double columns, portrait of Jean Genet on the recto. French author Jean Genet's appeal to defend Black Panther leader Bobby Seale against... More about Here and Now for Bobby Seale
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965. First Edition, First Printing. 8vo (8 5/8 x 5 3/4 inches; 218 x 145 mm), 416 pages, in publisher's original red cloth with title in black and gold to the spine. Red top stain. Bookplate to front free end paper, light rubbing to boards... More about Manchild in the Promised Land
Atlanta: Southern Regional Council, 1967. No Edition Stated. 8vo (9 x 6 inches; 228 x 150 mm), 78 pages, in green stapled wrappers. A study of the experiences of African-American children following desegregation of Alabama schools. Dr. Mark A. Chesler of the University of Michigan conducted the study. He... More about In Their Own Words: A student appraisal of what happened after school desegregation
New York: New Century Publishers, 1949. No Edition Stated. Small 8vo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 128 mm), 23, [1] pages, in stapled wrappers. Elwood Dean, educational director of the Communist Party of New Jersey, defends six black men accused of murdering a white shopkeeper in Trenton, New... More about The Story of the Trenton Six
London: Secker & Warburg, 1971. First U.K. Edition. Octavo. Near Fine in a Very Good dust jacket. Top of spine bumped. Dust jacket lightly soiled and sunned. Theodore Draper, the eminent historian of American Communism, turns his gaze here to black nationalism. He argues that black nationalism has been around... More about The Rediscovery of Black Nationalism
New York: Random House, 1964. First Edition, First Printing. A collection of essays written between 1945 and 1964, focusing on literature and folklore, especially the African-American experience. 8vo, xxiii, 317, [2] pages. Small tear in cloth near bottom of front board where it meets the spine, a bit of rubbing... More about Shadow and Act
Louisville, Kentucky: Southern Newsletter, 1960. No Edition Stated. 8vo (8 1/2 x 7 inches; 218 x 173 mm), 16, [2] pages in stapled wrappers. Moderate soiling and creasing to wrappers, vertical fold throughout, apparently from having been mailed. A Very Good copy. *A newsletter promoting civil rights for African-Americans. This... More about Southern Newsletter: Equality on the March (May-June 1960, Vol. 5, No. 3
New York: Harlem Moon, 2002. First Edition, First Printing. Small 4to (9 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches; 235 x 155 mm), xx, 840 pages in wrappers. A Fine copy of this massive anthology. SIGNED by Edwidge Danticat, Terry McMillan, and Edward P. Jones at their respective contributions. A collection of works by around 70 African-American authors. SCARCE SIGNED. More about Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writing
Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh Courier, 1950. First Edition Thus. Small 4to (9 1/8 inches x 6 5/8 inches; 235 x 170 mm), 7, [1] pages, in stapled pictorial wrappers. Pamphlet reprinting an article from The Pittsburgh Courier on the progress African-Americans had made in government service in the first 50 years... More about Fifty Years of Progress in Government Service
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1942. First Edition, First Printing. 8vo (8 1/2 x 6 inches; 215 x 150 mm), 124 pages, in orange and black boards, titles to spine in black and to upper board in pink, top edge stained red. A collection of more than 60 poems, accompanied... More about Shakespeare in Harlem
Pittsburgh: The Courier Publishing Company, 1950. First Edition Thus. Small 4to (9 1/8 inches x 6 5/8 inches; 235 x 170 mm), 7, [1] pages, in stapled pictorial wrappers. Pamphlet reprinting an article from The Pittsburgh Courier on the social progress of African-Americans in the first 50 years of the... More about Fifty Years of Progress in Social Development
New York: Totem Press / Corinth Books, 1970. Sixth Printing. INSCRIBED on the title page by the author as Amiri Baraka with "LJ" in parenthesis. The African-American poet's first book, originally published in 1961, featuring poems written between 1957 and 1961. Striking cover illustration by Basil King. 8vo (8 1/16 x.... More about Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Urbana, Chicago, London: University of Illinois Press, 1973. Second Printing. A look at Richard Wright's life and literary career up to the publication of Native Son in 1940 and his eventual disenchantment with communism. Octavo, 200 pages. Very Good with some underlining on a number of pages and some foxing... More about The Emergence of Richard Wright: A Study in Literature and Society
New York: International Publishers, 1942. First Edition, First Printing. 12mo, 5 x 7 1/4 inches (128 x 186 mm), 31, [1] pages in original stapled wrappers. Some rubbing to the front wrapper, soiling and a small nick to the rear cover. Pages slightly toned but clean. A Very Good copy Admiring... More about Thaddeus Stevens
New York: HarperCollins, 1992. First Edition, 2nd Printing. An important reference on African-American literature. Octavo, 594 pages. Very Good, with small scrapes to both paste downs and the first few pages (not affecting any text) in a Near Fine dust jacket with slight edge wear and soiling. More about Masterpieces of African-American Literature
Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh Courier, 1950. First Edition Thus. Small 4to (9 1/8 inches x 6 5/8 inches; 235 x 170 mm), 11, [1] pages, in stapled pictorial wrappers. Pamphlet reprinting articles from The Pittsburgh Courier on the progress African-American women had made in the first 50 years of the 20th... More about 50 Years of Progress for Negro Women
A small collection of items concerning the great actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976). The items include: --A small autographed sheet measuring 2 x 3 1/4 inches (52 x 80 mm); --A pamphlet, "The Negro People and the Soviet Union," by Paul Robeson. New Century Publishers, 1950, First Edition, 16 pages. --Four... More about
Chicago: Urban Research Institute, Inc., 1983. First Edition. SIGNED by Dempsey J. Travis on the title page. A fabulous oral history featuring some of America's jazz greats. Illustrated with over 200 photos, many of them previously unpublished. With a warm introduction by Studs Terkel. Octavo, pp. xiv, 543. Near Fine... More about An Autobiography of Black Jazz
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. First Edition, First Printing. SIGNED by John Edgar Wideman on the title page. The story of a black preacher in 18th-century Philadelphia who searches for a mysterious African woman. 8vo., 212 pages. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. Beautiful copy. More about The Cattle Killing
London: Allison & Busby, Ltd., 1984. First U.K. Edition, First Printing. SIGNED by John Edgar Wideman on the title page. A collection of stories tracing the fortunes of a black family in Homewood, a black district of Pittsburgh, and the first in Wideman's Homewood trilogy. 8vo., 205 pages. A Fine... More about Damballah
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1990. First Edition, First Printing. SIGNED by John Edgar Wideman on the title page. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy of this award-winning novel about race in America. 8vo., 199 pages. "Philadelphia Fire" won the 1990 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and... More about Philadelphia Fire
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1987. First Edition, First Printing. SIGNED by John Edgar Wideman on the title page. An Advance Review Copy with the publisher's materials laid in. This is the story of Reuben, a lawyer, who represents people in a black ghetto of Pittsburgh in their dealings... More about Reuben