New York: Oak Publications, (1965) dj. Hardcover first edition - An account by this singer, songwriter, pianist and vaudeville and minstrel performer who has been credited with forever changing the sound of American popular music by convincing Okeh Records to release the first Blues record in 1920 with Mamie Smith singing two of his songs - 'That Thing Called Love' and 'You CanÕt Keep a Good Man Down.' The next record released by Okeh - 'Crazy Blues', and 'ItÕ s Right Here for You' - was promoted as an African-American singer and band, and reportedly sold more than a million copies. Some other record labels began to jump on the bandwagon. While this is described as an autobiography, and includes many entertaining stories from Bradford's life, it is primarily an attempt to set the record straight and to give recognition to many forgotten or overlooked early Black musicians, including Bradford himself. Contains the sheet music for 11 of his songs, including those in the first two Okeh recordings and illustrated with many photographs. Foreword by Noble Sissle. Index. Slightly oversized format. 175 pp plus final drawing.

New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943. dj. Hardcover first edition - A very hard to find later novel, scarce in dustjacket , by this prolific and pioneering author of novels for young adults and older children. Augusta Huiell Seaman (1879-1950) was the first American to write mystery stories for young girls, and although some of her books are now almost unobtainable, she was very popular during her lifetime, with her books frequently on librarians' lists of recommended books. The 1929 book by Mahoney and Whitman, "Realms of Gold in ChildrenÕs Literature", includes nine of her books. Among the many later writers whom she influenced was Mildred Wirt Benson, the original author of the Nancy Drew series. When the first Nancy Drew book appeared in 1930, Seaman had already published 18 mysteries. As with many of her books, a current issue is linked to a mystery in the past - in this book, the ongoing World War II is connected with a mystery from the Civil War. When June and her young brother Chuck are collecting keys to aid in the war effort, they are given many by elderly Miss Abbie. After the box of keys is accidentally dropped they find a strange folding key - a key which enables them to resolve a mystery with its roots in the Civil War era. Illustrated by Manning de V Lee. Written late in her career, this is one of Seaman's most difficult to find titles, especially in dust jacket. 208 pp. ISBN: vl showc 12/24.

San Francisco: Kearny Street Workshop 1977. A scarce booklet featuring poetry and photography by members of the Kearny Street Workshop - including Teri Lee, Nelson Yee, Al Robles, Genny Lim, Janice Mirikitani and others - documenting a 10 fight attempt ing to stop the eviction of the elderly Filipinos for whom the hotel had been home for many years. Originally built as a luxury destination in 1854, moved from Jackson St to Kearny St in 1873, and rebuilt after the Great Earthquake of 1906, by 1968 it had become a low-income single-room-occupancy residential hotel in what was left of Manilatown. While originally the fight was to halt the tragic eviction process and larger community demise, it also sparked grassroots activism for affordable senior housing and was influential in developing a nationwide activist Asian American Movement. This copy has two newspaper photographs carefully taped inside the covers - in the front, the police on horseback are shown brutally riding through the phalanx of over 2000 protestors who tried to create a blockade to protect the building and in the rear is the infamous picture of Sheriff Richard Hongisto taking a sledgehammer to an apartment door, and on the final page is the handwritten comment 'Eviction carried out 8/4 at 3:00 AM" 40 pp. The front cover features a photograph of Felix Ayson standing in front of an International Hotel posting that announces a "rally to stop eviction." The eviction of the International Hotel tenants outraged the nation, and ended the developer's plans. After the building was demolished the lot stood empty for many years, until almost 30 years later, the city of San Francisco completed a new I-Hotel to provide affordable housing for senior citizens and low income residents and to house a Manila Cultural Center.