- Keyword = African American Literature, African American History and Nonfiction, African Literature, Slavery Abolition Reconstruction, Civil Rights / Black Power Movements
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BLACK ENTERTAINERS OF TODAY.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Dodd, Mead, 1974. dj. Hardcover first edition - Written for older children, illustrated with photographs. Includes interviews with young entertainers in many different areas: Alvin Ailey in dance, opera singer Martina Arroyo, actress Cicely Tyson, concert pianist Andre Watts, film-maker Melvin Van Peebles and more. Index. 159 pages. ISBN: 0-396-068499.
Condition: Ex-library with few markings, overall tight and clean in a near fine dj.
Book ID: 19708More details Price: $12.00 -
BLACK PROFILES IN COURAGE: A Legacy of African American Achievement.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Morrow, (1996.) dj. Hardcover first edition - Studies of both well-known African Americans like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, etc, and less well-known - Bass Reeves, Peter Salem, Joseph Cinque and Lewis H. Latimer. Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.. Photographs, bibliography, Index. xxiv, 232 pp. ISBN: 0-688-130976.
Condition: Very near fine in fine dust jacket (as new, but with remainder line).
Book ID: 79078More details Price: $18.50 -
WRITINGS ON THE WALL: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Liberty - Time, Inc, (2016.) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A book of essays in which Abdul-Jabbar "uses his unique blend of erudition, street smarts and authentic experience on the country's seemingly irreconcilable partisan divide - both racial and political, parenthood, and his own experiences as an athlete, African-American, and a Muslim. . . he also offers keen assessments of and solutions to problems such as racism in sports while speaking candidly about his experiences on the court and off." SIGNED by Adbu-Jabbar on the title page. Index. 242 pp. ISBN: 978-1618931719.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket (a new copy.)
Book ID: 72357More details Price: $45.00 -
LYRICS ALLEY.
Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )
New York: Grove Press, (2010). First edition - Novel set in 1950s Sudan, as British rule is coming to an end, by this award winning author, the story of a powerful dynasty trying to reconcile the pull of tradition and the need to move forward in a rapidly changing country. 308 pp plus author's note.
Condition: Very near fine in illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 64304More details Price: $18.50 -
A WREATH FOR UDOMO.
Edition: 1st trade paperback printing.
London: Faber & Faber, (1965). Third novel by this important black South African writer, one of the first to expose the injustice of apartheid - although this focuses on African leaders, revolutionaries one day, prime ministers the next. 309 pp.
Condition: Very good in wrappers (stamp of previous owner.)
Book ID: 78338More details Price: $12.00 -
DEEP DOWN IN THE JUNGLE: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia.
Edition: First printing.
Hatboro, PA: Folklore Associates. 1964. Hardcover first edition - Uncommon first edition of this pioneering work on African-American folklore, unusual in that it focused in depth on an urban and northern ghetto, and in the often sexually explicit language contained in the 'toasts' and other examples of folk stories and rhymes. Here is Stagolee and Shine and the Titanic and the baboon and more. Includes a long introduction by the author discussing aspects of the urban neighborhood in which he collected these examples. Illustrated with line drawings. Appendices (including one on the use of 'obscenities'), glossary, bibliography, index. 287 pp. Black illustrated endpapers.
Condition: Very good overall in black cloth (prev owner's name, book somewhat 'over-opened' before title page, some light pencil underlining in the introduction), lacking the dj.
Book ID: 37756More details Price: $50.00 -
HOME AND EXILE.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. dj. Hardcover first edition - A look at his childhood in Africa and the forces that shaped his writing, and African literature in general, from one of the most prominent writer ever to come out of Africa. Index. 115 pp. ISBN: 0-19-5135067.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket (as new.)
Book ID: 26457More details Price: $15.00 -
THINGS FALL APART and Related Readings.
Edition: First thus.
Boston: McDougal Littell. (1997.). Hardcover - A title in the Literature Connections series, designed for use in schools. In addition to the novel by Achebe, this includes poetry by Senghor, Mark Strand and Simon Ortiz, an essay "Shooting the Elephant" by George Orwell and more, 222 pp. ISBN: 0-395-775590.
Condition: Fine in glossy illustrated boards.
Book ID: 58862More details Price: $12.50 -
ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Anchor Press / Doubleday, 1988. dj. Hardcover first edition - A novel of contemporary Africa by this Nigerian writer. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize. 216 pp. ISBN: 0-385-016646.
Condition: Very good in a good dust jacket (several edge tears to dj, corner of flap clipped but price of 16.95 still present).
Book ID: 58167More details Price: $18.50 -
ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH
Edition: Trade paperback.
New York: Anchor Books, 1988. A novel of contemporary Africa, shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Condition: Near fine.
Book ID: 11606More details Price: $8.50 -
DARK SYMPHONY.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Sheed and Ward, 1942. dj. Hardcover first edition - The autobiography of a young African American woman who was born in Santa Barbara, California to a family in "comfortable circumstances" although she grew up during the Depression, and who converted to Catholicism after her graduation from high school. This book attempts to reconcile both her sense of herself as a "new Negro" and her spiritual life as a Catholic who eventually became a Franciscan Tertiary. She recounts not only her spiritual awakening, but also the necessity to overcome racial prejudice even within the Church itself.
Condition: Very good in a fair only dust jacket (bookplate on front pastedown, mostly hidden by dj flap, significant rubbing and edgewear to the black dust jacket. Original price of $2.50 still present).
Book ID: 71780More details Price: $40.00 -
RESURRECTING MINGUS.
Edition: First printing.
New York: The Free Press / Simon & Schuster, (2001) dj. Hardcover first edition - Young author's first novel, the story of a young beautiful lawyer whose life is falling apart, just as her parents' marriage is also coming to an end. 244 pp. ISBN: 0-684873524.
Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 64149More details Price: $16.50 -
AMERICANAH.
Edition: Uncorrected proof (trade paperback format. )
Condition: Fine (a new copy) in printed red wrappers with a sample of the finished cover art bound in. A surprisingly uncommon advance copy.
Book ID: 72631More details Price: $30.00 -
TRAVELING WOMEN.
Edition: First printing, a trade paperback original.
Oakland, CA: Jukebox Press. (1989). First edition - A joint poetry collection by the "Daughters of Yam," a performance and literary collaboration of two African American writers and poets - Jamaican born Opal Palmer Adisa and Devorah Major - who have worked together in Northern California since 1984. 103 pp. ISBN: 0-932693016.
Condition: Very near fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 75533More details Price: $15.00 -
GREEN CANE AND JUICY FLOTSAM, Short Stories by Caribbean Women.
Edition: 2nd printing, a trade paperback.
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991. In addition to the contributors shown above, this includes selections by Hilda Contreras, Maryse Conde, Rosario Ferre, Hazel Campbell, Olga Nolla, Ana Lydia Vega, Olive Senior and many others. Selected bibliography. 224 pp. ISBN: 0-8135-17389.
Condition: Near fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 73412More details Price: $15.00 -
BITTER EDEN: A Novel.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Picador, (2014) dj. Hardcover first edition - An autobiographical novel illuminating the profound and incomparable bonds forged between prisoners of war and is based on Tatamkhulu Afrika's own capture in North Africa and his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in Italy and Germany. Originally published in the UK in 2002 (just weeks before his death) this is the first appearance of this novel in the US. Publisher's note. vii, 220 pp. ISBN: 978-1250043665.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 71637More details Price: $20.00 -
AMBIGUOUS LIVES: Free Women of Color in Rural Georgia, 1789-1879.
Edition: First printing.
Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1991. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - INSCRIBED by the author on the half title page, and dated in the year of publication ('To Deedee, with best wishes and thanks for your contribution to a wonderful event.') A study based on the lives of the women in her own family - neither black nor white, affluent nor impoverished, enslaved nor truly free, they lived and died in a shadowy realm. Photographs, charts, extensive notes and references, index. 268 pp. ISBN: 1-557282145.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 29471More details Price: $38.00 -
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: Memoir.
Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )
New York: Grand Central Publishing, (2015). First edition - A beautifully written and very moving account of the sudden death of her husband by this noted African American poet - and also a picture of a rich and loving marriage. Ficre Ghebreyesus, born in Eritrea and a refuge from the war there, was known both as a gifted artist and a creative chef, when he died at just 50. 209 pp.
Condition: Near fine in illustrated wrappers (corner slightly bumped)
Book ID: 63252More details Price: $21.50 -
CHILDHOOD: A Novel.
Edition: First US printing.
New York: Henry Holt, (1994) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - First novel (second book) by this Afro-Canadian author, who was born in Trinidad. Set in southern Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s. SIGNED on the title page. 259 pp. ISBN: 0-805059814.
Condition: Fine in fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 76808More details Price: $27.50 -
KING OF THE WORLD: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero.
Edition: Later printing.
New York: Random House, 1998. dj. Hardcover - More than just a biography of Muhammad Ali, this shows how revolutionary his role was in the world of sports. Cassius Clay grew up in the segregated South but became a beloved figure in American life. Illustrated with photographs. Notes, index. 326 pp. ISBN: 0-375-500650.
Condition: Very good in very good dust jacket.
Book ID: 47708More details Price: $12.50 -
THE CASSIUS CLAY STORY.
Edition: First printing.
Condition: Good only in a good dustjacket (bumped at several corners, also bumped and dented at bottom center of front cover - hard enough to have created a short split in the board; jacket is price-clipped and has several ragged tears and associated creasing along the bottom edge of the front panel, along with internal tape repairs.
Book ID: 49916More details Price: $2,500.00 -
CARMELLO.
Edition: First printing, a trade paperback.
West Babylon, NY: Urban Books, (2008.). First edition - Ali's second novel of life on the gritty streets. When his parents - the biggest crack dealers in the hood - are gunned down, the question becomes 'what will Carmello do about it.?' 282 pp. ISBN: 1601620578.
Condition: Near fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 45237More details Price: $10.00 -
WE ARE OVERCOME: Thoughts on Being Black in America.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Crown, 1995. dj. Hardcover first edition - Irreverent essays dissecting the current state of affairs between blacks and whites by this black female political/social humorist. ISBN: 0517597594.
Condition: Very near fine in a like dustjacket.
Book ID: 16015More details Price: $12.00 -
RAILS UNDER MY BACK.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000. dj. Hardcover first edition - First novel by this young African American writer (preceded by a book of poetry), a long, beautfully written and complex work. 563 pp. ISBN: 0-374-246262.
Condition: Near fine in near fine dust jacket.
Book ID: 69233More details Price: $21.50 -
RAILS UNDER MY BACK.
Edition: Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. )
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000. First edition - First novel by this young African American writer (preceded by a book of poetry), a long, beautfully written and complex work, one which explores the destinies of two brothers married to two sisters. 556 pp..
Condition: Fine in glossy illustrated wrappers.
Book ID: 66959More details Price: $25.00 -
PAUL VESEY'S LEDGER.
Edition: First printing in wrappers. No hardcover edition. Volume 27 in the Heritage series.
London: Paul Bremen Ltd., 1975. SIGNED first edition - An uncommon work by this African American poet - his first book was published in German under the pseudonym of Paul Vesey, and his second book, published by Diana DiPrima under his real name bore the same title, although most of the poems were new. This collection contains 18 poems from an unpublished set which bore the subtitle "An Afro-American Experience." This copy is INSCRIBED to a fellow poet,"For Bill Robinson with special regards, Cordially, Sam Allen."
Condition: Near fine condition in stapled wrappers with photograph of Allen on front cover. Printed on blue paper.
Book ID: 14113More details Price: $65.00 -
BABY SWEETS
Edition: First printing.
New York: Dial Press, 1983. dj. Hardcover first edition - His third novel, set in fictional Muskhogean County in Northern Georgia. Illustrated with drawings by Benny Andrews. ISBN: 0-385-274262.
Condition: Fine in very good dust jacket (closed tear lower edge of rear cover of dj.)
Book ID: 25211More details Price: $30.00 -
JESSIE AND JESUS AND COUSIN CLAIRE
Edition: First printing.
Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, 1991. dj. Hardcover first edition - A darkly comic novel, illustrated by the author's brother Benny Andrews. ISBN: 1-56145-0324.
Condition: Near fine in a fine dustjacket.
Book ID: 6555More details Price: $25.00 -
ROSIEBELLE LEE WILDCAT TENNESSEE.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Dial Press, (1980) dj. Hardcover first edition - African American author's second novel, set, like the first, in a small Georgia town in the fictional Muskhogean County, and spanning most of the first half of the twentieth century. Illustrated with drawings by Benny Andrews, who also did the dust jacket art. 245 pp. . ISBN: 0-803783361.
Condition: Very near fine in a near finw dustjacket (remainder mark)
Book ID: 65752More details Price: $21.50 -
ALL GOD'S CHILDREN NEED TRAVELING SHOES.
Edition: First printing.
New York: Random House, 1986. dj. Hardcover first edition - The fifth and final (so far) volume in Angelou's autobiography - in this she recounts how she joins a 'colony' of Black American expats in Ghana only to discover that you can't go home again. 208 pp. ISBN: 0-394-521439.
Condition: Near fine in a very good dust jacket (price-clipped, 2 short closed tears , spot where color has bled from cover to inside of dj)
Book ID: 7356More details Price: $21.50