DARKTOWN STRUTTERS
(1994)
Inscribed first printing of Brown's second novel, exploring the collision of of art, racism, and violence in 19th-century minstrel performance.
African American subject
TRAGIC MAGIC
(1978)
First printing of Brown's acclaimed first novel, edited and championed by Toni Morrison.
TRAGIC MAGIC
(1978)
Inscribed first printing of Brown's acclaimed first novel, edited and championed by Toni Morrison.
PARABLE OF THE SOWER
(1993)
Bound galley (stated) of the first edition of Butler's post-apocalyptic novel, sent by the publisher to James Sallis, who was one of Butler's instructors "where Octavia got her start" (Carl Brandon Society) — at the 1970 Clarion Writers Workshop.
BLUESCHILD BABY
(1970)
First printing of this novel about Black man just released from prison, "the bright boy of infinite promise [...] and the very old parolee of twenty-two, who sees little difference between the prison world and the world outside."
CAROLING DUSK: AN ANTHOLOGY OF VERSE BY NEGRO POETS
1927
First printing of this collection of Black poetry from the late nineteenth century to the Harlem Renaissance, compiled by one of the period's "most talented writers" (Finkelman, 526).
IF WE MUST DIE
1963
First edition of this novel about an African American Korean War veteran's experiences of violence while trying to exercise his right to vote in the segregated South.
"The Function of the Novel in American Democracy"
14 September [1967]
Original poster advertising Ellison's University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign lecture on the history and development of the novel.
THE CHINABERRY TREE
1931
Rare first edition of this novel by a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance, following a middle-class Black family as they grapple with relationships, miscegenation, and how their community perceives them.
THE WALLS OF JERICHO
1928
First edition of this Harlem Renaissance classic, depicting the inter- and intra-racial conflicts of the Black community in Harlem with a dash of satire.
IT NEVER RAINS IN LOS ANGELES
(1970)
Inscribed first printing of this murder mystery set in an LA high school during the Civil Rights Movement.
OUT OF THE BURNING
(1960)
First printing, tales of "[b]urglary, mugging, gun battles in the streets, orgies in the cellar club, the suffering of adolescent romance, thirteen arrests and beatings by the police, a year in state training school..."
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN
1971
First edition of this expansive novel that recounts the experiences of a Black woman over the course of an eventful century.
THE WOMEN AND THE MEN
1975
Inscribed first edition of this collection by "one of America's foremost poets" (POETRY FOUNDATION).
ROOTS
1976
First trade edition in first-state jacket, warmly inscribed in the year of publication: "11/30/76 / Tom and Barbara McDermott, / I want to join Stan and / Marilyn in wishing you a / Very Merry Christmas! / Alex Haley."
KALEIDOSCOPE
(1976)
First edition of this anthology of three centuries of Black American poets, edited by the first Black Poet Laureate of America.
FINE CLOTHES TO THE JEW
1927
First edition of Hughes's "greatest collection of verse" (Arnold Rampersad), in the scarce original dust jacket designed by Aaron Douglas.
STUDY IN BRONZE
(1928)
First edition of this scarce novel by the English-born West Indies writer, about a woman in Jamaica with a Black mother and a white father.
THE THIRTY-EIGHTH FLOOR
(1965)
Handsome first printing of this Cold War-inflected political thriller of a near-future Chinese-Soviet-American military conflict.
THE KNOWN WORLD
(2003)
First edition of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the profound influence of the institution of slavery, on cultural and deeply personal levels.
A DIFFERENT DRUMMER
1962
First edition of William Melvin Kelley's first novel, the story of an exodus of the Black population from a fictional Southern US American state after a traumatic event.
'SIPPI
1967
First printing of this voting rights and Black Power book, by one of the co-founders of the Harlem Writers Guild and a major mid-century author of protest novels.
A TOAST TO LOVE
1984
First edition, first printing of this Black romance from the Starlight series led by the influential Black editor Veronica Mixon — written by editor Vivian Stephens's sister and one of the founding board members of the RWA.
ANYTHING WE LOVE CAN BE SAVED: A Writer's Activism
(1997)
Signed first edition, first printing of this collection of autobiographical essays by the author of THE COLOR PURPLE and IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHERS' GARDENS.
CAPTAIN BLACKMAN
1972
Inscribed first printing of this speculative fiction novel about a wounded Black soldier in the Vietnam War who hallucinates about fighting in major American battles across history.
