New York: By the author, (1980). SIGNED first edition - A book which was the culmination of a series of photographs Barboza created between 1975-1980, with the publication of this funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The title refers both the black border around each photograph, which gives a unity to the book, and to the fact that most, although not all, portraits are of African Americans, of writers, artists and musicians working on the edge (or on the border) "What sets these photographs apart, and gives them their durable vitality, is their innovative use of lighting and backgrounds. . Barboza turns the dark distorted forms into expressive echoes of the sitters. Underneath setups create shadows that loom above and behind Normal Lewis and the World Saxophone Quartet, while side arrangements turn the shadows into repetitions and echoes, doubling Amiri Baraka, and James Baldwin. Barboza then went on to add a bit of blur to some of the portraits, creating the appearance of back and forth motion or elusive ghosting to Ntozake Shange and Pharoah Sanders. The backdrops that he created and employed were equally unorthodox. Rolls of hanging paper were cut, slashed, and sliced, creating abstract patters of squiggles, lines, and openings, and then overpainted with expressive dashes and arcs of silvery spray paint. . So James Van Der Zee is surrounded by a whorling swirl of shining light, Toukie Smith shares the stage with snake-like back-and-forth forms." (Loring Knoblauch, Collectordaily) . Includes poetry by Ntozake Shange and Steven Barboza and brief handwritten captions under each portrait. SIGNED on the title page by Barboza and numbered AB/72, dated 1981. Square format, unpaginated (32 pp)

London: Fontana, (1961). Fontana Books Paperback Original #605. A jazz opera play which tells the story of a black boxer in a South African shanty town - inspired by the life and death of the heavyweight boxing champion Ezekiel Dlamini. Billed as a 'Jazz-Opera', the production was first staged in Johannesburg, opening in February 1959 and even though it was a direct challenge to apartheid it was an immediate success touring the country for two years, before multi-racial audiences, and then opening in London in 1961. The author, Harry Bloom, was a South African attorney and activist who worked with Nelson Mandela during the late 1950s and was detained, without being charged, after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Lyrics by Pat Williams. Illustrated with black and white stills from the theater production. 98 pp.

Frankfurt, Germany: Verlag Moritz Diesterweg (1977). First edition - A short story by this Black Panther leader and activist which was originally published in 1969 in Playboy Magazine. The story of a gang leader in Southern California who steals a powerful flashlight from a car and relishes the sense of power it gives him - although he also feels it is the beginning of a new direction in his life. This separate publication is a small pamphlet with the text in English, a title in the Diesterwegs Neusprachliche Bibliothek. Includes an introduction and annotations. "File copy, Joan Daves" stamped on front cover and title page. An interesting association copy with "File copy, Joan Daves" stamped on front cover and title page. Joan Daves (1919-1997) who escaped from the Nazi regime in the 1930s, later became an editor at Harper and was perhaps best known as Martin Luther King's literary agent. 65 pp. Ê

San Francisco: Eldridge Cleaver Legal Defense Fund (1976.). First edition - A small lot of Eldridge Cleaver ephemera, dating from the mid 1970s and slightly later - after he returned from exile in 1975 and was defending himself against the charges of attempted murder dating from the shoot-out in Oakland. Included are 3 brochures: 1. ELDRIDGE CLEAVER AT EXILE'S END by Henry Mitchell, 8 pp including the covers, stapled - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches - black and white photograph of Cleaver and Kathleen Cleaver on front cover, other photographs inside covers. First separate printing of this article, published by the Eldridge Cleaver Legal Defense Fund, San Francisco. 2. THE FBI OPD AND ELDRIDGE CLEAVER by the Friends of Eldridge Cleaver, San Francisco, 32 pp including the covers, stapled - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, red white and blue covers, blue text and photographs in the interior. Includes reprints of several newspaper articles about events surrounding the Black Panthers, as well as some matter apparently written specifically for this brochure. Includes much information on the FBI's Cointelpro "war" against the Panthers. Illustrated with many photographs. 3. NOW AVAILABLE : ELDRIDGE CLEAVER. Trifold brochure promoting the 'always provocative' Cleaver as a speaker, plus a plain white business card with Eldridge Cleaver and his address.

Charleston, WV: Parchment Gallery Graphics, University of Charleston, [1998.]. SIGNED first edition - Broadside poem by this award-winning African American poet (nominated twice for the National Book Award, first poet-laureate of Rhode Island, among others), printed in brown ink on a single sheet of 80 pound laid text, measuring 9 by 12 inches, illustrated with a sketch of Harper's father by Chris Sperry. Includes a separate colophon sheet, Both are laid into publisher's stiff purple folded protective folio and publisher's mailing envelope. Issued in commemoration of Harper's appearance at the University of Charleston in 1998, this was produced in two states - the first state consisted of 100 numbered, signed copies and the second state consisted of 50 copies, each individually SIGNED in pencil by Harper, but labeled 'P/P' for private use, and intended for patrons of the Speakers Series. This is a copy of the second state.

New York: Umbra, 1968. First edition - A very scarce copy of an anthology/literary journal which grew out of the Umbra Poets Workshop which ran from Manhattan's Lower East Side in New York City between 1962-1965. ÊConsidered "the first post-civil rights Black literary group, they sought to establish a voice distinct from the prevailing institutions of the 60s. . .According to the group, they had two definite goals: one, to share the experience of being Black in America; and two, to share the human quality of social awareness. Besides this, the ethos of their magazine had a particular bent to it, specifically towards the innovation, politics and race. The forward of the first issue, which is simply signed by 'The Editors (Calvin Hernton, David Henderson and Tom Dent),' Êstates that 'UMBRA is not another haphazard Ôlittle literaryÕ publication.' They believed that 'there [were] unpublished and infrequently published ethnic writers whose works are excellent, important and often far superior to those adopted few with which the standard press habitually and expediently affronts the public.' . . They wanted writers who were 'too hard on society'." (https://globalpoetics.org/society-of-umbra/) ÊThey were also credited with being a forerunner of the Black Arts movement. ÊWhile Umbra was itself an offshoot of the 1960 ÊBlack nationalist literary organization, On Guard for Freedom, founded ÊCalvin Hicks, Êmembers of this group went on to create and/or participate in many journals, among them Nkombo, Black River Journal, Callaloo, Yardbird, YÕbird, Quilt, Ear And Main St.ÊThis anthology, which could be considered the third issue of Umbra, was edited by David Henderson, and it contains contributions -including poetry, prose, photographs and art - Êfrom Sun Ra, LeRoi Jones, Langston Hughes, Calvin Hernton, Oscar Brown Jr, photographer Bob Fletcher, Henry Dumas, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Alice Walker (preceding her first novel), Bob Kaufman, Allen Ginsberg, Yusuf Rahman and many more. 66 pp, plus a review of an art exhibit and 3 pp of notes on contributors.Ê

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.

New York: Burr McIntosh Monthly, 1909. First edition - The Burr McIntosh Monthly was a monthly magazine started and edited by Burr McIntosh which lasted from 1903 to 1910. Clark Hobart was the art director. Each issue consisted mainly of high quality photographs, which was appropriate since McIntosh himself was a photographer. Many were of famous people, others were striking scenic images. The issues were bound by string so as to encourage framing of the photographs (among them in this issue are Glacier Point at Yosemite and one of the "coastal giants" - redwood trees) This 1909 issue features a long article on "Picturesque East Africa" by Peter Mac Queen, illustrated with many photographs, including a full page tinted photograph facing the title, and with a tissue guard. Also included is a section of "art studies" - tasteful pin ups of 1909, an article on hallation in photocraft and notably "Some Curious Persons We Meet and Hear From" by George M. Cohan. Many advertisements - the first page is a full page ad by Tiffany. Lovely art nouveau cover.

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, (1928.). SIGNED hardcover first edition - An interesting reminder of early aviation history and an uncommon early edition of this Pulitzer prize-winning novel set on a plantation in South Carolina and written in dialect. However, far from depicting the black people of the South with the usual stereotype, they are described as "Gullahs with tall straight bodies, and high heads filled with sense." This airplane edition is SIGNED on a blank preliminary page at the front, with the number 674 (out of 1000) in the upper corner, printed on thin India paper and bound in lightweight, flexible boards. In the 1920s commercial passenger air travel was still in its first decade, and it was both uncomfortable and expensive as well as uncommon (the first stewardesses were not on planes until 1931) and the first mass market paperbacks would not appear until ten years later. An appealing small volume, measuring 6 3/4 inches tall, 4 1/2 inches wide, and just 3/8 inch in bulk. 345 pp. Illustrated endpapers.

Minneapolis: Challenge Productions, 1979. SIGNED first edition - Book 1 covers "Tom's childhood to his legal enslavement in 1865" - that is, it is an account of the earliest years of his exploitation by General Bethune, the slave owner who recognized Blind Tom's musical abilities, gave him access to a piano, but soon exploited him. "He hired out 'Blind Tom' from the age of eight years to concert promoter Perry Oliver, who toured him extensively in the US, performing as often as four times a day and earning Oliver and Bethune up to $100,000 a year, an enormous sum for the time, (equivalent to $1.5 million/year in 2004), making Blind Tom undoubtedly the nineteenth century's most highly compensated pianist. General Bethune's family eventually made a fortune estimated at $750,000 at the hands of Blind Tom. Oliver marketed Tom as a 'Barnum-style freak' advertising the transformation from animal to artist. In the media, Tom was frequently compared to a bear, baboon, or mastiff. (Wikipedia). While 'slavery' was supposedly abolished in 1865, Blind Tom remained bound to his "guardians" who continued to exploit him. Includes an introduction by Dr. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. INSCRIBED by Southall on the title page, and also initialled underneath her photograph on the back cover. Extensive bibliographical notes, appendices. xx, 108 pp.

New York & Chicago: Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. / Tell Taylor Music Publisher, (1917). Two pieces of vintage World War I sheet music, consisting of the 1917 hit "Joan of Arc, They Are Calling You" and the Tell Taylor song "He Sleeps Beneath The Soil Of France." "Joan of Arc" was composed by Jack Wells, and with lyrics written by Al Bryan and Willie Weston and Published by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. in New York. . The lyrics are in both English and French. Symbols of Joan of Arc were frequently carried by French soldiers, and shortly after the War - in 1920 - she was canonized. The cover art depicts a woman riding a horse, with her sword in the air. The lyrics of the song portrays the French soldiers' calling out to Joan of Arc with the chorus ending "Come lead your France to victory; Joan of Arc, they are calling you." The cover of "He Sleeps" pictures a woman, man, and dog sitting before a fireplace, while the lyrics relate the story of a young man who wounded at war, and "knew that he was going to die there on that summer's day." Refrain: "He sleeps beneath the soil of France so many miles away, he left behind the one he loved and a mother old and gray, he fought because he knew 'twas right to fight for liberty and now he's sleeping over there, beneath the soil of France." Each consists of single sheet folded to create 4 pages, 13-1/4" tall and 10-3/8" wide, with two pages of lyrics and music inside - the back cover of Joan of Arc advertises "The Latest Dance Craze - Paddle Addle in Your Little Canoe" and that of He Sleeps contains and snippets promoting "Beautiful Home Songs."