First printing of this collection of plays about the Black American experience, selected by two giants of the Harlem Renaissance and with cover design and ornaments by the legendary Aaron Douglas.
Very good plus.
Price: $500.00
"The drama of negro life is developing primarily because a native American drama is in the process of evolution."
Alain Locke and Mongomery Gregory were not only key figures of the Harlem Renaissance: they were champions of Black theater. Together, they founded the Department of Dramatic Art and Public Speaking at Howard University, one of the first credit-bearing drama programs in the US. They also formed the Howard Players, "an experimental laboratory of Negro drama" (416) based on the ideals of the community drama movement, which Gregory described as "where all the artistic and social agencies of the community co-operate in the production of plays [...] for the people" (Zaluda, 6). PLAYS OF A NEGRO LIFE contains a number of plays the Howard Players performed.
PLAYS OF NEGRO LIFE features a binding and ornaments designed by Aaron Douglas, a pioneer of the African-American modernist movement. Douglas was "an integral part of the artistic culture of New York"; he blended Art Deco and cubist forms with the geometric shapes of African art to create stylish designs for publications by many of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance (Pritchett). Douglas had also previously designed Alain Locke's personal bookplate. Books with elements designed by him are highly sought.
Read more: Catalogue of the Blockson Afro-American Collection, item 6125; Adam Kirsch, "Art and Activism: Rediscovering Alain Locke and the project of black self-realization," Harvard Magazine; Scott Zaluda, "Composing a 'National Negro Theater': Playwriting Courses at Howard University in the 1920s"; Eleanor Pritchett, "The Book Art of Harlem Renaissance Artist Aaron Douglas."
First edition. New York and London: Harper & Borhters, 1927. 8.75'' x 5.75''. Original green cloth-backed patterned boards with paper title label to spine, designed by Aaron Douglas. Lacking very scarce original dust jacket. Grey topstain, fore-edge machine-deckle. Illustrated with black-and-white frontispiece and 15 black-and-white plates, with various black ornaments. [18], 430 pages. Ink owner name to front pastedown, "Margaret Hart." Binding with light edgewear, a bit of rubbing, some soil and toning to spine. A couple leaves with a touch of soil. Firm and clean.
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