Collection: Black Writers

Signed copy of this collection of 30 black-and-white reproductions of Baraka’s mixed-media artworks ("painted poems") dating back to the 1950s. Issued, according to the introduction, in an edition of 450 copies, on the occasion of an exhibit of Baraka’s work at the University of Charleston... More

NY: Monthly Review Press, 1965. First American edition, following the British of 1964. 122pp; index. 8vo; dark brown textured-paper boards; silver spine titles; dust jacket. Light bump to base of front board; former owner's name inked on ffep; light foxing to endpapers. Very good or... More

Johannesburg: AD. Donker, 1982. First edition. 144pp. 8vo.Blue textured-paper boards; white spine titles; dust jacket. Light shelfwear/rubbing to spine ends and board tips; one spot of ink soiling at base of textblock fore-edge. Very good in a like jacket with mild sunning to spine and... More

Edited and with an introduction by Eugene B. Redmond. NY: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1989. First edition. Xv, 155pp. 8vo. Black boards backed with orange cloth; gilt spine titles; dust jacket. Foxing, lightly colored, to textblock edges. Else near fine in a near fine, unclipped jacket... More

NY: Harper & Row, 1971. First edition. 276pp; index. 8vo; black boards backed with red cloth; silver and black spine titles. Former owner's name penned on front pastedown. Else fine in fine dust jacket, price-clipped. A sharp copy of this first-person account of the Black... More

NY: Pathfinder, 1989. Xi, 233pp.; index; 8 b&w plates at center. Octavo; gray vinyl boards; black spine titles; dust jacket. Very good or better in a very good jacket, unclipped, with moderate edge-wear & several closed tears. Reprint edition of this collection of fourteen speeches... More

 London: Michael Joseph, 1972. First UK edition, preceding the American edition of 1973. 166pp. Octavo; blue textured-paper boards; silver spine titles; dust jacket. Light spotting/soiling to top of textblock; light bumping to spine ends. Very good or better in a near fine jacket, price-clipped. First... More

London: Jonathan Cape, 1968. Second printing. 8vo. Dark brown textured-paper boards; silver spine titles; red topstain; dust jacket. Xiv, 198pp.; index. Some light water splashing to topstain; mild thumb-smudging to fore-edge; inked gift inscription on ffep. Very good or better in a near fine jacket,... More

Detroit: Broadside Press, 1968. First edition. 8vo. Saddle-stapled in printed wraps. 24pp. Toning to wraps; light creasing to bottom fore-corner; oxidation to staples. About very good. Second book and first collection of poems by the poet and scholar James A. Emanuel (1921–2013). More

Argyle, NY: Spinsters, Ink, 1980. First edition. 8vo. Perfect-bound in yellow printed wraps. 77pp. Yellow highlighting to 23 pages; light bump to bottom fore-corner; small feminist sticker at top fore-corner of front cover. Very good. An important non-fiction prose work by American poet Audre Lorde... More

Detroit: Broadside Press, 1972. First edition (stated first printing). 8vo. Blue cloth stamped in gilt on front board and spine; lacking a jacket as issued (reportedly only the 1973 second printing had a jacket). 215pp., with 12 leaves of b&w plates at center. Signed and... More

Detroit: Broadside Press, 1970. First edition. 8vo. Saddle-stapled in photo-illustrated wraps. 32pp. Wraps mildly rubbed; some light creasing to bottom fore-edge; small circular sticker at base of rear cover. Very good or better; a nice copy. Second collection of verse, following For My People (1942),... More

Chicago: The David Company, 1988. First edition (stated first printing). 8vo. Saddle-stapled in gilt-titled orange wraps. 31pp. About fine. Signed, dated (1989), and briefly inscribed by Brooks to half-title. Four poems, as published by Brooks's own The David Company imprint. More

Chicago: Free Black Press, 1970. First edition (stated first printing). 8vo. Saddle-stapled in illustrated card wraps. 24pp. Moderate foxing/spotting to front cover and underlying leaf; oxidation to staples; musty. Very good. First of two collections of verse by an author who died, apparently quite young,... More

NY: Kioka Productions, 1972. First edition. 8vo. Saddle-stapled in photo-illustrated card wraps. 48pp.; illus. Near fine, with mild corner wear, a touch of soiling to rear cover. Signed and inscribed on title page: "Well, well, well... best left as is 'neough [sic] said.... Love Jacques."... More

Chicago: Adams Press, 1965. First edition. 8vo. Saddle-stapled in glossy illustrated wraps. 24pp. Mild toning along spine, else fine; a nice copy. Cover design by Toussaint Perkins. First book by the Chicago poet and social activist Useni Eugene Perkins (1932-2023), an early member of the... More

NY: Arno Press & The New York Times, 1971. 316pp. 8vo. Tan cloth; black spine titles; dust jacket. Offsetting, apparently adhesive-related, to gutters. Mild dust soiling to textblock top. Unclipped jacket with shallow chipping at spine ends, wear and creasing to hinges, rubbing and toning... More

Cambridge, MA: Hovey Street Press / Red Prison Movement, [1973]. Second printing, which expands the first edition from 64 to 120 pages. Saddle-stapled in matte printed wraps, 10-1/2 x 6-7/8 in. 118pp. With numerous black-and-white photo reproductions and illustrations by Maria Moon, and a color... More

East St. Louis, IL: Black River Writers, 1975. Introduction by Eugene Redmond. Saddle-stapled in printed wraps, 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 in. 34pp. SIGNED and inscribed, at length, by Jefferson on the title-page. Poems hand-lettered, with reproduced black-and-white line drawings by Jefferson throughout. Light toning and soiling... More

Los Angeles: The Guild of Tutors Press, 1978. First edition. 4to. Perfect-bound in printed red wraps. 120pp., with index of titles and first lines. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photo reproductions. Very good (+), with light wear to edges and ends of the very lightly faded... More

First publication in book form of the American abolitionist and journalist’s only novel, a story of radical Black insurrection originally published serially in The Weekly Anglo-African from November 1961 to May 1962. Introduction by Floyd J. Miller. Boston: Beacon Press, 1970. Olive boards backed with... More

A scarce work of Black pedagogy, originally written as Caldwell's master's thesis at Columbia University, in which she argues that the prevailing modes of education fail to meet the needs of Black students. Instead, while acknowledging the distastefulness of the position, she contends that segregated... More

First mass-market printing of Baldwin's second collection of essays. NY: Dell Books, 1963. First edition thus (stated "First Dell printing—August, 1963"). Perfect-bound in printed wraps, 6-3/8 x 4-1/4 in. All textblock edges stained green. 190pp. Light edgewear. One dog-eared page corner. Light scuffing to rear... More

First mass-market printing of the second novel by the Black American writer, a story about the love affair between a middle-aged man and a younger female thief, both white. NY: Signet/The New American Library, 1951. First edition thus (stated first printing). Perfect-bound in printed color... More

A posthumous selection of fourteen short stories about Black life in the South by the American poet and novelist, a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. NY: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1973. First edition. Octavo (5.75 x 8.5 in.); 238pp.; black cloth boards; silver spine... More