New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A comprehensive anthology containing essays, fiction (including both short stories and excerpts from novels) and poety by both well-established and new black writers, including previously unpublished material from James Baldwin, Ann Petry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Willard Motley, Owen Dodson, John Hope Franklin, Richard Wright, and more. Other contributors include Langston Hughes, LeRoi Jones, Pauli Murray, Ted Poston, Saunders Redding, Benjamin A. Brown, Frank London Brown, Horace R. Cayton, Cyrus Colter, Ossie Davis, William Demby, St. Clair Drake, Katerhine Dunham, Robert Hayden, Chester Himes, M. Carl Holman, M. B.Tolson, Paul Vesey and Dorothy West. INSCRIBED at length on the front ednpaper ("to June M. Corbett, an exciting and refreshing new friend in the struggle for freedom and human dignity. . . ") and dated in the year of publication by contributor Benjamin A. Brown, the editor of the Harlem Quarterly, who is represented by an excerpt from his unpublished novel 'Thunder at Dawn.' Introduction and biographical notes at the beginning of each selection by Herbert Hill. Scarce signed. xiii, 617 pp.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947. dj. Hardcover first edition - Second novel by this African American writer (the first was 'If He Hollers Let Him Go.') Although Himes is most remembered for his crime fiction set in Harlem, this novel focuses primarily on race issues - it is the story of young black man who becomes 'the first Negro' union organizer in the war industry in Southern California during World War II - where Himes himself worked for several years. Even the charge of murder in this story is considered primarily in the context of race relations, and how the pervasive racism of the society damages all - white and black. Dust jacket has the back panel advertising current Borzoi fiction and a photograph of the author on the rear flap. 398 pp.

Westport: Negro Universities Press, 1970. Hardcover - Scarce facsimile edition of the complete run of this short-lived but historically significant literary magazine published in Chicago between May 1944 and 1946. Founded by Alice C. Browning and Fern Gayden, it served as a critical platform for African American writers during the Chicago Black Renaissance. Its' goal was to provide an opportunity for Black authors at a time when depictions of African Americans in mainstream media were often limited or stereotypical. Despite its small circulation and brief existence, the magazine published early works from some of the most influential figures in 20th-century literature including early works of Gwendolyn Brooks (who later credited Alice Browning for providing a vital platform for young Black writers); Richard Wright with his short story "Almos' a Man" reprinted in their first issue; plus sketches and stories by Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Frank Marshall Davis, Margaret Burroughs, Owen Dodson, as well as Browning's own stories under the pseudonym of Richard Bentley. Covers of each issue included.

New York & London: Faber & Faber, (1994) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The sixth novel by the author now best known for 'Erasure' (basis for the film "American Fiction") and the first book in the publisher's Callaloo series, dedicated to books by "writers of African descent." This is a "corrosively funny and disquieting picaresque novel which addresses the politics of identity and the racist brutality that marked America's westward expansion after the Civil War." The NY Times review noted that it "starts sour, then abruptly turns into Cowpoke Absurdism, ending with an acute hallucination of blood, hate and magic. It's worth the wait. The novel sears." SIGNED on the title page. Hard to find in the first edition, and especially so signed and in this condition. Review copy with publisher's material laid in. 219 pp. ISBN: 978-057119832-0.

Raleigh, NC: Pact Press, (2021). First edition - "The unsentimental, moving, and surprisingly humorous account of a girl and her ten siblings who grew up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. MaryÕs mother was a fierce matriarch, a single mom who raised eleven children with the help of welfare checks and a fire arm hidden in her bra. Drugs, guns, and pregnancies were everyday occurrences, but Mary and her siblings took it all in stride. . This is the story of Mary, but, even more so, itÕs the story of her mother, a strong and extraordinary woman who was able to survive moments of pain and disappointment by laughing at the comedy of human missteps, miscalculations, and downright stupidity. This is also a story about race and of poverty and how, over time, it can wear you down and destroy you, because, although Mary got out okay, her sisters and brothers were not so lucky." Poet Nikki Giovanni called this a "warm wonderful memoir." 196 pp. ISBN: 978-1646030781.

Boston: Beacon Press, (2020, c 1996). An attempt to answer the question of why Christianity seems impotent to deal radically and effectively with issues of discrimination and injustice based on race, religion and national origin - an issue which Thurman, a minister and civil rights activist, wrote frequently about. In his preface, he noted that the full development of his ideas were in a series of lectures - the Mary L. Smith Memorial Lectures which he gave at Samuel Huston College, Austin, Texas in April 1948, and upon which this book is based. In it, he interprets the teachings of Jesus through the experiences of the oppressed and discusses nonviolent responses to this oppression. According to Martin Luther King's biographer, King studied this book during the Montgomery bus boycott. Originally published in 1949, this edition includes a foreword by Vincent Harding xx, 102 pp.

New York & Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2021. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first book - "a crackling, satirical novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone Black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like, and wildly successful startup where nothing is as it seems. An unambitious 22-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother, content working at Starbucks in the lobby of a Midtown office building, and hanging out with his girlfriend. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, NYCs hottest tech startup, results in an exclusive invitation for Darren to join an elite sales team on the thirty-sixth floor. After enduring a 'hell week' of training, Darren, the only Black person in the company, reimagines himself as 'Buck,' a ruthless salesman unrecognizable to his friends and family. But when things turn tragic at home and Buck feels hes hit rock bottom, he begins to hatch a plan to help young people of color infiltrate Americas sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game." 388 pp. ISBN: 978-0358380887.

Random House Canada, (2019) dj. Hardcover first edition - True first edition of the first novel by this award-winning Afro-Canadian poet and short story writer and the winner of the 2019 Giller Prize. Spanning three decades from the 1980s and set in the racially and economically diverse and cultural vibrant Toronto neighborhood of Brampton, it has been described as a "story in which love takes strange, winding paths and grows in a context shaped by community, family, long-standing friendships, and fleeting interactions that leave their mark on us forever. Felicia, a nineteen-year-old student from a West Indian family, and Edgar, the lazy-minded and impetuous heir of a wealthy German family, meet by chance when their ailing mothers are assigned the same hospital room. After the death of Felicia's mother and the recovery of Edgar's, Felicia drops out of high-school and takes a job as caregiver to Edgar's mother. The odd-couple relationship between Edgar and Felicia, ripe with miscommunications, misunderstandings, and reprisals for perceived and real offenses, has some unexpected results." 446 pp. ISBN: 978-0735274051.

New York: Covici Friede, 1929. SIGNED hardcover - An eloquent book in which this African-American singer, one of the foremost spiritual / blues singers of his day, recounts his childhood in the 'sporting world' in Sulfur Springs, Montana (where his family was the only black family), his experiences as a Pullman porter, working as a driver for John Ringling, being in New York during the years now called the 'Harlem Renaissance' and traveling to Europe to sing. Written at the peak of his singing career, during which he partnered with Rosalind Johnson (sister of James Weldon Johnson), this ends with his comments on "what a lucky bird I am to have been laid on the top of the Rocky Mountains" and because of his childhood there, the "Race question" did not loom large in his life. Long after the events in this book, he returned to Sulfur Springs for the remainder of his life. Montana writer Ivan Doig who based his character of Monty Rathbone in 'Prairie Nocturne' on Taylor and interviewed Taylor extensively commented in 1977 on the irony that "he, a black man and a poor man in a town not notably kind on either matters of race or poverty, found it the one place he could live congenially, while I as a lower-middle class bookish striver found it the prime place I could not live and work.Ó Illustrated with a color frontispiece and 9 black and white plates by Covarrubias, an introduction by Muriel Draper, who talks about editing the original handwritten manuscript, and a foreword by Carl Van Vechten. INSCRIBED on the front endpaper "To the only Witter Bynner I know. May you enjoy this volume as I have yours, sincerely Taylor Gordon" and dated 4:25 PM 3-17-30 at 110 W 136 St, Harlem. While the poet and author Witter Bynner is not as closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance as Van Vechten was, both Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen were recipients of the Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize early in their careers. Witter Bynner's bookplate on front pastedown. An important book of the Harlem Renaissance era which is scarce in the first edition and rare signed or inscribed. Glossary. 235 pp.

Boston: The House of Edinboro, Publishers, (1952) dj. Hardcover first edition - The last book by this pioneering sociologist, activist and close friend of Booker T. Washington and his wife, written to inspire young adults, the biography of another 'unsung hero' - that is, the story of Major Richard Robert Wright (1855-1947). It details his inspiring life journey from being the child referenced in a John Greenleaf Whittier poem (which is where the title for this book comes from) to the the highest-ranking African American officer during the Spanish-American War, a prominent educator who was a founder of Savannah State University, civil rights organizer and active in the National Freedom Day Association, politician, founder of the Citizens and Southern Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia one of the first African American owned banks in the North, overcoming significant racial prejudice in the Jim Crow South. Although she notes that Wright was already in his 90s when she began working on this book, he welcomed her into his home, answered her questions and made his papers available. Preface by Rufus E. Clement. Illustrated with photographs. Scarce in the first edition. Laid in is a promotional flyer from the publisher, a single sheet, approx 9 by 6 inches. 237 pp.

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974. dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's scarce fourth novel. Although the dust jacket calls it a "murder mystery of sorts" it is much more: a provocative, satirical, and dark exploration of African American life in the mid-20th century. A successor to his award-winning 1970 novel, 'Lord of Dark Places,' and, like his other novels, set in the fictional community of Burnside, Virginia, it forms part of an extended, unsettling saga of post-World War II America from a Black perspective. As one reviewer commented all of his "many novels could be categorized as 'widely unavailable,' as virtually his entire body of work has been scandalously deleted from print." Jonathan Yardley in the NY Times noted that this "novel is written very much from a 'black' viewpoint, but Bennett reveals himself to have a deep understanding of the complexity and difficulty of interracial communication." 258 pp. Dust jacket art by Wendell Minor. ISBN: 0-385010222.