AFRICAN AMERICANA & BLACK HISTORY LOTS 253-283

African American & Black History Lots 253-283

253

ARMSTRONG, Louis (1901-1971). Photograph signed and inscribed in image (“Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong), to Jackie Mabley, N.p., [ca late 1940s].

Black and white photograph, (visible image 240 x 188 mm), SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ARMSTRONG TO JACKIE MABLEY: “Best Wishes / To Jackie Mably [sic] / My very dear friend / From / Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong.”

Comedian and entertainer Jackie “Moms” Mabley (1897-1975) began her career on the African American vaudeville circuit. In the mid-1920s, she made her Harlem debut at Connie’s Inn and quickly became a regular performer at Harlem Renaissance hotspots Cotton Club and Club Harlem where she developed her “Moms” character. It was here where she first met and performed alongside Armstrong, as well Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and other jazz greats.

$800-1,200

254

BROOKS, Gwendolyn (1917-2000). 4 autograph draft poems or notes signed (“Gwendolyn Brooks”), with numerous corrections and emendations, December 1968 and May 19, 1994. Together 5 pages, 8vo and 12mo.

Comprising three drafts for “The Beauty in the Forest” and a draft of “For Sara Miller, sculptor.” Both poems were posthumously published in In Montgomery: And Other Poems, (Chicago: Third World Press, 2003).

Brooks examines the notion of the gaze in “The Beauty in the Forest”: “And even deep into the forest the beauty was where no one could see. / The Forest Beauties perfected themselves for no gaze.” One draft of the poem is written in a small pocket day timer for December 1968, which also includes a note about Carl Sandburg.

Her heavily amended draft of “For Sara Miller, sculptor” includes early notes for a poem Brooks wrote to commemorate Sara Miller’s bronze bust of Brooks, which was publicly unveiled the Harold Washington Library Center on 6 June 1994. Brooks saw the sculpture prior to its unveiling, and writes: “Sara, thank you for...sending my life into bronze” and continues “You see me UNBLINKINGLY BLACK!” [crossed out]. She concludes: “You see beyond seeables, see beyond flesh...No longer walking through rooms I shall be gone and not gone.”

$600-800 254

255

BROOKS, Gwendolyn (1917-2000). A Street in Bronzeville. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1945.

8vo. Original black cloth gilt; publisher’s pictorial dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY BROOKS: “Sincerely, Gwendolyn Brooks, April 15, 1997.” Brooks published her first poem when she was 13 and her compositions were regularly printed in newspapers, especially the Chicago Defender, throughout her adolescence and early adulthood. A Street in Bronzeville, her first book of poetry, was recommended by Richard Wright to Harper & Brothers. Wright wrote that Brooks’s poems “are hard and real, right out of the central core of Black Belt Negro life in urban areas...She easily catches the pathos of petty destinies; the whimper of the wounded; the tiny accidents that plague the lives of the desperately poor, and the problems of color prejudice among Negroes.” (Kent, A Life..., p.62).

$400-600

257 (part lot)

BROOKS, Gwendolyn (1917-2000). A group of 8 works, comprising:

Maud Martha: New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953. -- We Asked Gwendolyn Brooks About the Creative Environment in Chicago. Chicago: Illinois Bell Telephone, [1967]. INSCRIBED. -- Beckonings. Detroit: Broadside Press, 1975. INSCRIBED. -- Report from Part One. Detroit: Broadside Press, 1972. INSCRIBED. -- Report from Part Two. Chicago: Third World Press, 1996. INSCRIBED. -- And 3 others. Together, 8 works in 8 volumes, 8vo, all FIRST EDITIONS, condition generally fine.

$300-400 258

BROOKS, Gwendolyn (1917-2000). A group of 6 works, comprising:

A Street in Bronzeville. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945. -- Bronzeville Boys and Girls. New York, Evanston, London: Harper & Row, 1956. -- Selected Poems. New York, Evanston, London: Harper & Row, 1963. -- In the Mecca. New York, Evanston, London: Harper & Row, 1963. SIGNED. -- Riot. Detroit: Broadside Press, 1969. SIGNED -- Blacks. Chicago: The David Company, 1989. Fifth printing, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED. -- Together, 6 works in 6 volumes, 8vo, all FIRST EDITIONS except where noted, all in publisher’s bindings with dust jackets as issued, condition generally fine, dust jacket for A Street in Bronzeville with small tear with loss.

$200-300

256

BROOKS, Gwendolyn (1917-2000). Annie Allen. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.

8vo. Original black cloth gilt; publisher’s printed dust jacket (small tear, lightly sunned). Provenance: Kenan Heise (b. 1933), bookseller, author, journalist at the Chicago Tribune (inscription).

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY BROOKS: “For Kenan Heise. Sincerely, Gwendolyn Brooks, February 24, 1996.” Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for this collection of poetry, the first African American recipient of the award.

$600-800

(part lot)

259

CARVER, George Washington (1860s-1943). Autograph letter signed (“Geo. W. Carver”), as Director of the Department of Agriculture at Tuskegee Institute, to Emily Howland. Tuskegee, AL, 1 October 1897. 1 page, 8vo, on Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute Department of Agriculture letterhead, with envelope, light creasing.

To abolitionist, suffragist, and Tuskegee benefactor Emily Howland (1827-1929) presenting a copy of Carver’s first publication Progressive Nature Studies, soliciting her opinion: “I hope you will both look at it and tell me what you think concerning the science.” The publication intended to instruct teachers on implementing nature studies in science education.

Written in his first year as the Director of the Department of Agriculture, a post offered to him by Booker T. Washington after Carver completed his master’s degree in 1896. Here he pioneered agricultural science and taught students for 47 years. He writes to Howland, “my students still talk about your helpful words to them and wish to be remembered to you.”

$400-600 260

261

DU BOIS, William Edward Burghardt (1868-1963). The Souls of Black Folk. London: Archibald Constable & Co., Ltd., 1905.

8vo. Frontispiece portrait. Original cloth (some finish damage to covers from damp, rubbed). Provenance: John Price Sheldon, Buxton, M.P. (signature and inscription on half-title).

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. First published in the United States in 1903, the book contains several essays on race, some of which had been previously published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. To develop this groundbreaking work, Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African-American in American society.

$500-700 CARVER, George Washington (1860s-1943). Autograph letter signed (“G.W. Carver.”), as Director of Research and Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute, to Grady Porter. Tuskegee, 17 February 1935. 1 page, 8vo, on Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute letterhead, with envelope, light creasing.

To Grady Porter of the Tom Huston Peanut Company in Columbus, GA, a fellow peanut researcher. Their correspondence began as early as 1931 and continued through at least 1942. Here, Carver continues an on-going conversation possibly regarding the 1934 implementation of tariff rate quotas on peanuts: “’Peculiar condition’ is correct and just how we are going to pull out of it is a very serious problem. Just think of it, $110.00 per ton for peanuts, phenomonal. [sic]”

$400-600

262

DU BOIS, William Edward Burghardt (1868-1963). Typed letter signed (“W. E. B. Du Bois”), as editor of The Crisis, to Charles H. Wesley. New York, 13 January 1930. 1 page, 8vo, on Editorial Rooms of The Crisis, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People letterhead, evenly toned, light creasing.

“Thank you for the book and return of the photographs. I shall be glad to note the History in THE CRISIS.”

Charles H. Wesley (1891-1987), historian and author, was a longtime professor at Howard University and an accomplished scholar. Du Bois is likely referencing Wesley’s The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Development in College Life, first published in 1929. As the first historically African American intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity which counted Du Bois among its alumni, the work would have been of significant interest to readers of The Crisis.

$300-400

263

GARVEY, Marcus (1887-1940). Typed letter signed (“Marcus Garvey”), as President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, to Edna Green. West Kensington, London, 4 August 1936. 1 page, 8vo, on Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities’ League letterhead, light creasing.

“We have to thank you very much for the good work you have done in securing the names and addresses of so many persons who are willing to work for the salvation of our Race. We have made a record of the names in conjunction with those from other parts of the world.”

Written in the final phase of Garvey’s life when he had moved the headquarters of the UNIA from Jamaica to West Kensington. At the UNIA Convention of 1934, he proposed the Five-Year Plan which proposed that every African voluntarily send monetary contributions in order to revitalize the organization and achieve their aims. Garvey concludes his correspondence to Miss Grear, “We will be releasing to each and every promised worker a programme of the Five Year Plan, for all of them to work and make a success of it. You will hear from us on the matter in time.”

$800-1,200

264

HUGHES, Langston (1901-1967). Typed letter signed (“Langston”), to William Grant Still. Cleveland, OH, 18 January 1937. 1 page, 8vo, small chips to left edge.

“I was delighted to have both your letter and your card, and immensely pleased with your ideas for the opera.”

Hughes writes to African American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978) regarding their collaboration on the opera Troubled Island about the life of Jean-Jacques Dessalines (17581806) and the Haitian Revolution. He muses on their creative partnership: “It must, of course, be as integrated as posible [sic], libretto and music, and I am beginning to wish we were one person, like Wagner, so that our creativeness would be a single powerful force, indissoluble in its beauty and strength…..I am sure that you can do a superb job with the music, and I hope that together we can make the words worthy of that music. So please always feel that I am open to suggestions and changes, however large or small they may be.”

Hughes shares several titles on Haiti with Still that he has read in preparation. He also notes, “Interesting that you have a new musical typewriter, because I have a new writing typewriter (my other one being now 12 years old) and our libretto will be the first work done on this new machine of mine. All my poems and books were written on the old machine. I’m hoping to do better on the new one, (anyway, as well! No, better! As well would be no fun.)”

Though Hughes began the libretto in 1936 and showed enthusiasm for the project, he left the project to report on the Spanish-American War for the Baltimore Afro-American. The libretto was finished by Verna Arvey (1910-1987), but the opera would not be performed until 1949, when it premiered on March 31 at the New York City Opera. Notably, it was the first grand opera composed by an African American composer to be produced by a major company.

265

KING, Coretta Scott (1927-2006). Typed letter signed (“Coretta Scott King”) to Mr. S. Resnick. Atlanta, 31 October 1968. 1 page, 8vo, on Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr. letterhead.

A letter of thanks written by King in response to a letter of condolence and contribution in the wake of her husband Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination: “Let me thank you for your kind and comforting letter and the contribution. Such support mean [sic] a great deal to me and my family and gives us the encouragement we need to continue the work for which my husband gave his life.”

$100-200

266

KING, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968). Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? New York: Harper & Row, 1967.

8vo. Original cloth-backed boards; publisher’s pictorial dust-jacket (slight wear to head of spine panel, short closed tear near rear flap fold at foot, touch of soiling on rear panel); quarter morocco folding case. Provenance: H. O. Wilson (presentation inscription from the author).

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY KING on front free endpaper: “To Mr. H. O. Wilson / In appreciation for your great support / Martin Luther King, Jr.”

267

MALCOLM X (1925-1965). Typed letter signed (“Malcolm X”), to Alex Haley. Cairo, Egypt, 18 September 1964. “ 1 page, 8vo.

A letter written to Alex Haley (1921-1992), part of a series of responses to the editorial, “The Lesson of Malcolm X” published by the Saturday Evening Post on September 12, 1964. Haley describes the initial correspondence in the Epilogue of The Autobiography of Malcolm X: “The Saturday Evening Post flew photographer John Launois to Cairo to locate Malcolm X and photograph him in color. The magazine’s September 12 issue appeared, and I sent a copy by airmail to Malcolm X. Within a few days, I received a stinging note, expressing his anger at the magazine’s editorial regarding his life story…I wrote to Malcom X that he could not fairly hold me responsible for what the magazine had written in a separate editorial opinion. He wrote an apology, ‘but the greatest care must be exercised in the future.’”

Malcolm X opens his response to Haley’s apology: “Just after I had mailed a letter to you yesterday giving you my very subjective (smile) reactions to the POST article and its editorial, your letter came last night and made me feel a bit relieved and perhaps less subjective (smile again).”

He continues, describing the exhausting nature of the civil rights struggle and the benefit he sees in stepping back and considering the cause from a global perspective, “WE’ve [sic] been under the gun so much, and for so long, we have become ‘gun shy’ perhaps without even realizing it. But this is actually the case with most American Negroes, especially these who are most active in the Negro Struggle, and particularly the Negro ‘leaders.’ I have been saying for five months that all the Negro leaders need to go abroad and forget the struggle for two months. They will come back with a new perspective and much broader scope: involving new aims and new methods to achieve these aims.”

1964 was a tumultuous year for Malcolm X and would prove to be the last full year of his life. He split from the Nation of Islam in early March, converted to Sunni Islam, undertook the Hajj in April, and contended with escalating threats from the Nation of Islam. He would spend much of the year traveling throughout Africa delivering lectures and conferring with prominent figures across the continent.

Haley had originally met Malcom X in 1960 and had penned two articles about him and the Nation of Islam. After suggestions from his publisher, Haley proposed the idea of a biography to Malcolm X in 1963. Despite initial hesitation, Malcolm X agreed. In the Epilogue, Haley admits that “we got off to a very poor start. To use a word he liked, I think both of us were a bit ‘spooky.’” Over time their relationship thawed, and Haley used the material garnered from over 50 interviews to publish his critically-acclaimed first book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X in October 1965.

$6,000-8,000

268

[MALCOLM X (1925-1965)]. SCHATT, Roy (1919-2002). Gelatin silver print. 1964.

Visible image 238 x 168 mm, Schatt’s studio stamps and signature to verso, slight blemish at Malcolm X’s temple, matted and framed.

Captured on June 20, 1964 when Malcolm X was a guest on the Long John Nebel Show on WOR Radio in New York City. During the program, Malcolm X, Nebel, and 3 other guests discussed African American identity, the effectiveness of protests, subconscious racial bias, and racial terminology with Malcolm X noting that the term “white” is not a just a description of skin color, but a word implying attitudes and privileged class. Photographer Schatt documented the popular radio show and its guests for over 17 years, capturing at least 4 images of Malcolm X. Schatt’s studio stamps and signature to verso.

$300-400 267 268

269

MANDELA, Nelson (1918-2013). Long Walk to Freedom. London: Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

8vo. Numerous photographic illustrations. 20th-century calf gilt, smooth spine in 5 compartments, 2 gilt-lettered, large central compartment with onlaid South African flag; brown cloth slipcase with inlaid commemorative 5 rand “Madiba” coin featuring Mandela’s portrait, issued in 2008 to mark his 90th birthday.

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION of Mandela’s first autobiography taken largely from a manuscript he secretly penned while imprisoned. SIGNED BY MANDELA.

$800-1,200

270

MANDELA, Nelson (1918-2013). The Illustrated Long Walk to Freedom. Boston, New York, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.

4to. Illustrated. 20th-century calf, upper cover with onlaid cow-hide Xhosa ikhaka pointed oval shield.

FIRST ILLUSTRATED TRADE EDITION, SIGNED BY MANDELA.

$600-800

271

MANDELA, Nelson (1918-2013). Mandela: The Authorised Portrait. (London): Bloomsbury, 2006.

4to. Profusely illustrated with photographs and images from the Nelson Mandela Foundation and private collections. 20th-century goat, gilt-lettered, onlaid South African flag; brown cloth slipcase.

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, DELUXE ISSUE, number 1 of 2 copies, SIGNED BY MANDELA, with a foreword by Bill Clinton and introduction by Desmond Tutu. The story of Mandela’s remarkable life is recounted through extensive interviews with his family, close friends, colleagues, and fellow world leaders.

$800-1,200

272

[MANDELA, Nelson]. JOFFE, Joel (1932-2017). The State vs. Nelson Mandela: The Trial that Changed South Africa. Oxford: Oneworld, 2007.

8vo. Original deluxe black morocco gilt, spine in 5 compartments with 4 raised bands, 2 gilt-lettered, large central compartment decorated with flag of South Africa.

FIRST EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE, number 10 of 10 specially bound copies, SIGNED BY NELSON MANDELA. An account of the landmark Rivonia Trial of 1963-1964 written by Joel Joffe, a human rights lawyer who was one of the defense attorneys for Mandela and his co-defendants.

$600-800

273

[MANDELA, Nelson]. CARLIN, John (b.1956). Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. New York: Penguin, 2008.

8vo. Original boards; publisher’s illustrated dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY NELSON MANDELA, of Carlin’s history of the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s integral role in reshaping and racially integrating the South African National Team, the Springboks, to serve as a unifying force in post-Apartheid South Africa, was adapted into the 2009 film Invictus.

$300-400

274

MANDELA, Nelson (1918-2013). The Historic Speech of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela at the Rivonia Trial: As Delivered from the Dock on April 20, 1964. Johannesburg: Learn and Teach Publications, [1998].

8vo. Original publisher’s wrappers.

Second edition, TWICE SIGNED BY MANDELA on title-page: once in his hand, and with one autopen signature. Originally printed in 1987 but “was seized under the emergency media regulations” and no copies are known to still exist. This reprint was published to mark Mandela’s 70th birthday, which he celebrated while still imprisoned. Despite the title page disclaimer, the publication was likely suppressed quickly leading to its scarcity. RARE: According to online records, no copies have ever sold at auction and OCLC locates only 12 copies.

$1,000-1,500

275

STOWE, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896). Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly… Illustrated Edition. Complete in One Volume. Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1853.

8vo. Illustrated. (Some minor staining and soiling.) Original publisher’s brown cloth (minor wear to spine ends and extremities, hinges and text block cracked; quarter morocco slipcase. Provenance: L. Crowell (pencil signature on front free endpaper).

FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. BAL 19527.

[With:] STOWE. The Minister’s Wooing. New York: Derby and Jackson, 1859. 8vo. Original brown cloth (minor wear, rubbed). FIRST EDITION.

$300-400

276

WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915). The Future of the American Negro. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1899.

8vo. Photographic frontispiece portrait. Original maroon cloth gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut (minor rubbing to extremities). Provenance: William Johnston (gift inscription).

FIRST EDITION of Washington’s first major published work. He outlines his ideas and philosophies regarding African Americans, especially pertaining to their education, referring often to Tuskegee University, which he co-founded.

$400-600

277

WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915). Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1901.

8vo. Photographic frontispiece portrait. Original publisher’s maroon cloth gilt.

FIRST EDITION of the second of Washington’s books published in his lifetime, which was a bestseller and was highly influential in the African American and allied communities. The success of the work prompted President Theodore Roosevelt to invite Washington to dine at the White House in October 1901. Although US presidents had previously hosted black guests including Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, this social occasion was notable because of its publicity and the equal footing Roosevelt extended to Washington. Vitriolic response from southern politicians and press, however, meant that no other African American was invited to dinner at the White House for nearly 30 years.

$400-600 (part lot)

278

WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915). Working with the Hands. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1904.

8vo. Frontispiece portrait and additional plates. Publisher’s maroon cloth gilt (some wear to extremities).

FIRST TRADE EDITION, preceded by a subscribers edition of the same year. Billed as a “sequel to Up from Slavery,” Washington’s fourth book focuses on the industrial trades and vocations taught at Tuskegee Institute with numerous plates.

$200-300

279

WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915). Putting the Most Into Life. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1906.

8vo. Publisher’s red cloth gilt. Provenance: Newton D. Baker, Jr. (1871-1937), lawyer, progressive Democrat politician, mayor of Cleveland from 1912-1915 (bookplate).

FIRST EDITION. Newton D. Baker was appointed Secretary of War by President Wilson in 1916. He oversaw America’s military involvement in World War I creating the nationwide draft, selecting General Pershing to lead the American Expeditionary Forces, and insisting that they participate as an independent fighting partner, rather than replenishing British and French troops. A FINE ASSOCIATION COPY.

$300-400

280

WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915) The Man Farthest Down. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1912.

8vo. Fold-out map. Original publisher’s red cloth gilt.

FIRST EDITION. An examination of the poor and working classes in Europe by Washington, written while he was on sabbatical from Tuskegee Institute. The Man Farthest Down includes significant contributions from Robert E. Park (1864-1944), the influential sociologist who worked with Washington at Tuskegee, and later at the University of Chicago where he became a major figure in the Chicago school of sociology.

$200-300

281

[WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915)]. Rotograph postcard. New York: The Rotograph Company, n.d., ca 1902. SIGNED BY WASHINGTON.

A commanding portrait by Frank G. Schumacher, taken in his Los Angeles studio circa 1902 prior to its publication as the frontispiece in The New Negro (1903). "Schumacher / Los Angeles" written in negative.

$1,000-1,500

282 281

282

WRIGHT, Richard (1908-1960). Uncle Tom’s Children. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938.

8vo. (Half-title toned, two clipped newspaper portraits of Wright mounted on half-title verso with some offset to title.) Original cloth (spine a little sunned, a few pale spots).

FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY WRIGHT on half-title verso: “With best wishes / Richard Wright / March 24 - 1938.”

$400-600

283

[CAMUS, Albert (1913-1960), his copy]. - WRIGHT, Richard (1908-1960). - WEBB, Constance (1939-1948). A Hitherto Unpublished Manuscript. N.p.: Strictly private circulation [Constance Webb], n.d. [ca 1946].

8vo. Original mimeographed proof copy. Plain stapled wrappers; glassine. Provenance: Albert Camus (1913-1960), French philosopher and author (annotations).

FIRST EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE, number 57 of an unstated edition. According to Davis and Fabre, the edition comprised 100 copies, however, copies with numbers higher than 100 are known to exist, including a copy numbered 500 (though bibliographer Bill French notes, “it is doubtful that 500 copies were made”). Wright gave his biographer, Constance Webb, permission to publish the second part of Black Boy in a limited mimeographed edition. The work comprises 125 pages of Wright’s text for the second part of Black Boy, followed by 25 pages of Webb’s notes. Webb's biography was published in 1968. American Hunger, the unexpurgated version of Black Boy, was not published until 1991.

There are 2 notations in ink: “Mr. Albert Camus” and “57”; and a pencil note, presumably in Camus’ hand “1965 - Donee par Ellen Wright” (Richard Wright’s widow). In 1946, Wright moved to Paris permanently, where he developed friendships with existentialist philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and absurdist Albert Camus. Their intellectual exchanges were highly influential during Wright’s early French period, most profoundly realized in The Outsider. Davis & Fabre, pp.144-145. A SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATION COPY.

$1,500-2,500

309