New York: St Martin's, (1997). SIGNED hardcover first edition - A brief but powerful first novel. In a starred review Publisher's Weekly wrote: "Related by ancestry and by their common story, the African American voices form a turbulent current of racial memory that flows through two continents, three centuries and incalculable terror, suffering and grief. A nameless African progenitor searches for the home of the great tree planted as a seed by his grandfather, and for his name, which he eventually comes to know as River. His story - told in timeless, mythlike language - weaves in and out of the counterpointing narratives of his succeeding generations. Ampofo, a new slave, describes the last hours of his life; Sally, also a slave, tells why she killed Ampofo while he still had the heart of a free man; Tom, the biracial son of a plantation owner, relates the torment of being caught between two races." and onto three generations of more contemporary times. SIGNED on the title page. 118 pp plus a family tree. ISBN: 0-312-151780.

New York: Viking, (2003). SIGNED hardcover first edition - Young African American author's second novel, set in the aftermath of World War II. Two men, one an African American raised in France who enlists after his parents are killed trying to flee France, and the other a white Southerner from Mississippi, serve together during World War II only to confront the painful post-war realities of American racism. Mather is denied the Medal of Freedom because of his race, and after a futile visit to Washington DC, he is driving back to Los Angeles through Mississippi where a confrontation with a racist winds up with the white man's death, and his brother vowing revenge. SIGNED on the title page. 275 pp. Review copy with publisher's material laid in. ISBN: 0-67003164X.

New York: John Wiley & Sons, (1998) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first complete story of the life of a remarkable woman who rose from poverty and oppression to become a hero of the civil rights movement. Born in Virginia in 1903, she moved North in 1927 to New York at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, where she began organizing consumer co-operatives and working for the NAACP. Although Ella Baker was a vital grass roots organizer in the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the establishment of Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, she remains a relatively obscure figure compared to male colleagues such as Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and Stokely Carmichael. Grant first met Ella Baker in 1960, and they remained friends and coworkers until Miss Baker's death in 1986; in this book she draws on many sources, including extensive interviews with Ella Baker and her friends, relatives, and colleagues. Chronology, notes, bibliography, index. xvii, 270 pp. ISBN: 0-471020206.

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (1998.). First edition - The author's first book, winner of the 1998 National Book Award. "The story of one man's exploration of his family's slave-owning past and his search for the descendants of the people his family kept as slaves. In 1698, Elias Ball traveled from his home in Devon, England, to Charleston, Carolina to take possession of his inheritance: part of a plantation and twenty slaves. Elias and his progeny built an American dynasty that lasted six generations, acquiring more than twenty plantations along the Cooper River near Charleston, selling rice known as Carolina Gold, and enslaving close to four thousand Africans and African-Americans until 1865, when Union troops arrived on the lawns of Balls' estates to force emancipation. ... A nonfiction American saga that is part history, part journey of discovery. This is the story of black and white families who have lived side-by-side through three hundred years.." Illustrated with black and white photographs. Genealogy charts, notes, index. 489 pp.

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (1998.) dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first book, winner of the 1998 National Book Award. From the dj flap: this "is the story of one man's exploration of his family's slave-owning past and his search for the descendants of the people his family kept as slaves. In 1698, Elias Ball traveled from his home in Devon, England, to Charleston, Carolina to take possession of his inheritance: part of a plantation and twenty slaves. Elias and his progeny built an American dynasty that lasted six generations, acquiring more than twenty plantations along the Cooper River near Charleston, selling rice known as Carolina Gold, and enslaving close to four thousand Africans and African-Americans until 1865, when Union troops arrived on the lawns of Balls' estates to force emancipation. ... A nonfiction American saga that is part history, part journey of discovery. This is the story of black and white families who have lived side-by-side through three hundred years.." Illustrated with black and white photographs. Genealogy charts, notes, index. 495 pp. Illustrated endpapers. ISBN: 0-374-265828.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, (1972) dj. Hardcover first edition - An authoritative biography, well written and thoroughly researched of one the earliest African American men of science in the United States. A free Black tobacco planter in Baltimore County, the son and grandson of a slave and a woman from England who came to the country as an indentured servant, Banneker taught himself mathematics and astronomy late in life. Based on long lost manuscripts and personal papers, this not only recognizes Banneker for his accomplishments, but it is also a history of the economy of 18th-century Maryland, the surveying of the District of Columbia, and the methods used by early almanac makers in their computations. Illustrations and maps. Includes an extensive section of documents, reference notes, bibliography and index. xvii, 434 pp. ISBN: 0-684125749.

Charleston, WV: Parchment Gallery Graphics, (1996.). SIGNED first edition - A collection of pages from 3 of his notebooks, in which Baraka merges the printed word with graphic design, covering a period of over 30 years, from the 1950s when he was in Greenwich Village with Frank O'Hara and Larry Rivers. Published in conjunction with an exhibit being held at the University of Charleston. Although the introduction mentions 450 copies, the editor, William Plumley stated that the actual edition was 250, of which approximately half were signed on the title page. This is one of the SIGNED copies.(Baraka has also corrected the misprint in his name on the title page) Baraka defies classification - a beat poet, a playright, an artist, a member of the New York school - but perhaps most proudly a black activist. 34 pages, large format (approximately 8x11), inside sheets matte finish, fine paper, printed in black and white, brief introduction, biographical information and back cover by Plumley. A full color image of the black and white one on the cover is tipped inside the front cover.

New York: William H. Morrow / Quill, (1983). First edition - An important and uncommon anthology - from the back cover: "Renowned poet and dramatist Amira Baraka and his wife, poet Amina Baraka, bring together here the work of forty-nine black women writers who represent a body - genre - of American literature that is just beginning to receive widespread recognition. This book . . embraces a variety of themes: a consciousness of oppression on all levels; a sense of history and ancestral past; the struggles inherent in any love relationship; and the redefinition of the 'black woman.' Includes Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Alice Walker, June Jordan, and Alexis De Veaux to name a few - as well as newer writers, some of whom are published here for the first time." Among the other authors are Gayl Jones, Shirley Ann Williams, Faith Ringold, Mari Evans, Nikki Grimes, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez and many others. Introduction by Amiri Baraka. Notes on contributors. 418 pp. ISBN: 0-688015824.