New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The very uncommon first edition of this classic anthology - among the contributors are many writers of the Harlem Renaissance: Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Feldon Johnson, Cullen, Jessie Fauset, Claude McKay and others, as well as some traditional poems. Illustrated with drawings by Henrietta Bruce Sharon. Arranged topically. Included are biographies of the poets, and an index of first lines. This copy has been INSCRIBED by Bontemps with the comment "I'm happy to have this little collection find its' way into your excellent library." Biographical notes on the contributors, index of first lines. Stated first edition with the code I-Q indicating a date of publication of September 1941. 220 pp plus colophon.

Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1945. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The story of African American migration within the United States, from the Underground Railroad in pre-civil war days, to the years following the Emancipation when newly freed slaves headed north and west, and during World War I when there was a labor shortage in the factories of the North and continuing up until the time this book was written. SIGNED on the front endpaper by both authors and inscribed by Conroy ' For my friend Gloria Freidman with the best of wishes" and dated 10/12/45 and underneath this appears 'and also those of' and the signature of Bontemps. References, index. 266 pp.

New York: Simon & Schuster, (1989) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The author's first novel, set in Harlem in the 1920s, during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. "He captures the fervor of post-World War I black optimism, contrasted by rampant racial bigotry, while chronicling the lives of three sisters: Velma, Barnard graduate and aspiring writer; Miriam, indefatigable activist for back-to-Africa nationalist Marcus Garvey; and Louise, whose fair skin leads her to the Cotton Club and show business." (Publisher's Weekly) Warmly and personally INSCRIBED on the front endpaper and dated 12 March 89, in the year of publication. 447 pp. ISBN: 0-671658840.

Boston: Twayne Publishers, (1984). Hardcover first edition - A book which looks at Cullen's role in the Harlem Renaissance and at his work as a novelist and playwright, in addition to focusing on his poetry. Frontispiece portrait. Chronology. Notes and references, index. 145 pp. ISBN: 0-805774114.

Detroit: Broadside Press, (1972). First edition - An interesting look at the pivotal role of McKay as a Black poet who moved away from the earlier tradition of poems written in dialect or influenced by Western classical literature. In his introduction, Gayle notes that not only did the Jamaican-born McKay bring a "race spirit and a race soul" but he also brought a "sensitivity sharpened by experiences of other lands and peoples" as well as a sense of immediacy and urgency. A title in the Broadside Critics Series. Footnotes, bibliography. 46 pp. ISBN: 0-910296766.

Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, (2000) dj. Hardcover first edition - A book described as "the first comprehensive analysis of the modern African American literary response to Africa, from W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk to Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Combining cutting-edge theory, extensive historical and archival research, and close readings of individual texts, Gruesser reveals the diversity of the African American response to Countee Cullen's question, 'What is Africa to Me?'" Extensive notes, works cited, index. xiii, 205 pp. ISBN: 0-813121639.

New York: Henry Holt, 1996. dj. Hardcover first edition - Author's fourth book - a revisiting of the Harlem during several eras: in its early days as a pastoral suburb; during the Harlem Renaissance of the 20's, and in its decline into a symbol of urban despair. Small octavo. 276 pp. ISBN: 0-8050-4851-0.

New York: Scribner, 1933. First edition - In addition to the timely Langston Hughes story, about a white couple - an artist and musician - who consider themselves lovers of anything 'Negro,' this includes an article by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings on floating down the St Johns River in Florida with only another woman as a companion. Also includes substantial articles on Hitler and the American Jews and on the inventor Thomas Edison, as well as other stories and poetry. pp 129-192 plus ads and features.

New York: Harper Collins, (1995) dj. Hardcover first edition - Includes all of her published short stories, listed chronologically by the date of their first appearance and seven not previously published stories. Introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sieglinde Lemke and an afterword by Gates. Bibliography. 305 pp. ISBN: 0-060167327.

New York: Chelsea House Publishers, (1991). A biography of this important Harlem Renaissance author, written for younger readers and illustrated throughout with photographs. Introductory essay by Coretta Scott King. A title in the Black Americans of Achievement series, edited by Nathan Irvin Huggins. List of books by Hurston, a chronology, suggestions for further reading and index. Slightly oversized square format. 120 pp. ISBN: 0-791011542.

New York: Viking, 1935. dj. Hardcover first edition - The title poem of this collection was originally privately published in an edition of only 200 copies, and was written in reaction to the news that the when the US was sending a contigent of gold star mothers to Europe to visit the graves of their sons, that the Negro mothers would not be allowed to sail on the same ship as the white gold-star mothers. Also includes poems from his first book of poetry and some which had not previously been published in book form.

New York: Vertigo / DC Comics, (2009) dj. Hardcover first edition - Inspired by accounts of Walter White "passing" in the South to obtain first hand information of lynching, this is a graphic novel of a "black journalist who goes undercover in the 1930s South to investigate a possible trumped-up murder charge against his brother - a charge that could lead to a lynching. Zane Pinchback, who is so light-skinned he can pass for white, writes the Incognegro column for a Harlem newspaper, and his beat is the bloody circus of lynchings still claiming lives in horrendous numbers. Johnson's tale is a smart and fast-paced one, particularly when dealing with Pinchback's reluctance to return to Mississippi." Black and white drawings by Warren Pleece. 135 pp. ISBN: 978-1401210984.

New York: Pocket Books, (1968). First edition - Pocket Cardinal Edition 50184. A vintage paperback edition of McKay's best known work, originally published in 1928. 180 pp plus 2 pp publisher's ads.

New York: G. K. Hall, 1997. dj. Hardcover first edition - A title in the African-American Women Writers 1910-1940 series. While very little information is available on the two authors in this volume, both Pitt and Scott were born in 1900, and both of these novels were written when the authors were in their late 30's, towards the end of the Harlem Renaissance, and towards the end of the Depression. Both novels were published in 1939, and the short story 'Case 999' was published in 1952. In addition to the introduction by Mobley, this volume includes reproductions of the original publications of these works,. ISBN: 0-8161-16342.

Sacramento, CA: Act Three, 1988. First edition - Poetry chapbook by this African American author: the theme is the Harlem Renaissance, both as a tribute to the writers of that period, and a study of the contrasts made by the passage of 60 years. Cover design by D. Woodard.

New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926. Hardcover first edition - Ten powerful short stories of Afro-Caribbean life, set in the West Indies, Panama, and the Central American isthmus - a recent exhibit on migration in the Canal Zone noted that "the trope of death appears yet more clearly as an antidote and challenge to the US triumphal narratives of the Canal construction and to the language of tropical tourism that together erased the humanity and modernity of West Indians in Panama." An uncommon book by this Harlem Renaissance writer who was born in Guyana. 282 pp.

New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926. Hardcover - Ten powerful short stories of Afro-Caribbean life, set in the West Indies, Panama, and the Central American isthmus. An uncommon book (in any original edition) by this Harlem Renaissance writer who was born in Guyana. Although DuBois praised this book for its significance - "Here is a book of ten stories of death, which, with impressionistic pen and little plot, show forth with singular vividness the life of black laborers of the West Indies. There is superstition, unusual dialect, singular economic glimpses; but above all, there is truth and human sympathy" he also called it "hard reading." 282 pp.

New York: Griot Editions / Quality Paperback Book Club, (1996). West's first novel originally published in 1948. Although she was born in Boston, and lived most of her life on Martha's Vineyard, she worked in New York City during the Depression and is associated with the Harlem Renaissance, both through her association with Langston Hughes and other figures of the movement, as well as editing the significant but short-lived quarterly literary journals - Challenge in 1934 and The New Challenge in 1937. 347 pp.

New York: Doubleday, 1995. dj. Hardcover first edition - A collection of stories (including her first short story "The Typewriter" which took second prize in a writing contest when she was only 17) and autobiographical essays, selected and introduced by the author - the last living writer from the days of the Harlem Renaissance. Preface by Mary Helen Washington. 254 pp. ISBN: 0-385-471459.