GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
1979
Signed limited Franklin Library edition of Baldwin's first novel, his semi-autobiographical "extended rite of exorcism" (Harris).
African American subject
THE NEGRO CARAVAN: Writings by American Negroes
(1941)
First printing of this anthology of works by Black Americans, from the 18th-century poetry of Phillis Wheatley to the 20th-century essays of Alain Locke and much in between.
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.
TRAGIC MAGIC
(1978)
Inscribed first printing of Brown's acclaimed first novel, edited and championed by Toni Morrison.
FAMILY
(1991)
Signed first printing of this epic family narrative told from the point of view of the ghost of its matriarch, an enslaved woman who committed suicide.
CITY COOL: A Ritual Of Belonging
(1978)
Association publisher's review copy of this powerful novel of youth destroyed by gang violence, with extensive inscriptions from both authors to Harlem Writer's Guild president Bill Ford.
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 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.
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.
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."
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.
BANJO: A Story without a Plot
1929
First printing of the second novel by one of the most prominent members of the Harlem Renaissance, adapted into the 1937 J. Elder Wills musical film BIG FELLA starring Paul Robeson and Elisabeth Welch.
CAUGHT IN A TRAP
(1999)
First edition, paperback original, of the Black romantic suspense novel set on Long Island, featuring a heroine who falls in love while in hiding from her abusive husband.
SULA
1974
First printing of this story of friendship, duality, and perceptions of power and belonging – Toni Morrison's second novel.
KING STRUT
(1970)
Inscribed first printing, as association copy, of this political thriller that follows a Black congressman as he becomes increasingly wrapped up in a secessionist Black nationalist group – by noted journalist and Tuskegee airman Chuck Stone.
A BEAR FOR THE F.B.I.
(1968)
Inscribed first edition in English of this "elegiac reminiscence" (NEW YORK TIMES) of a midwestern Black childhood — inscribed to "To / Gene / My Buddy / and right / arm,"; likely his producer, Gene Wolsk.
POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY
(1992)
Signed first printing of this novel exploring many of the same themes as THE COLOR PURPLE, especially love after trauma and universal sisterhood.
THE TEMPLE OF MY FAMILIAR
(1989)
Signed first printing of this epic novel of love and relationships across centuries, including appearances of two characters from THE COLOR PURPLE.
A READING BY ALICE WALKER
1983
Striking original poster for a 1983 reading by Alice Walker at the University of Washington's HUB Auditorium, which took place during the height of her COLOR PURPLE success.
![POEMS AND DRAWINGS [in] EPOS: A Quarterly of Poetry (Extra Issue 1962. Charles Bukowski.](https://typepunchmatrix.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/42827_1.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1689257826)
