New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (1979) dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first book, a portrait of street life in the oldest all-black town in America, a small Illinois town on the Mississippi River, originally named Brooklyn and also renamed as Lovejoy after the abolitionist printer who was killed. This focuses on the story of James Bollinger, known as the dancer, both law enforcer and desperado who was shot to death on November 14, 1973, on the main street. This book is also a look at the early 70s, "when the empowering, hope-inducing vibes of the black pride movement could still mitigate, if not erase, the crushing effects of the poverty and racism that had not and still has not been overcome." Cover praise from Truman Capote and Gordon Parks among others. Review copy with publisher's slip and author photograps laid in. 222 pp. ISBN: 0-151849935.

New York: S. W. Benedict, 1848. Hardcover - An unusual very early copy of this contemporary picture of the abolitionist movement in the years before the Civil War. Alanson Work (1790-1879) had a wife and four children, who were all living at the Mission Institute (just across the river from the slave state of Missouri) and Thompson and James E. Burr (1814-1859) were young men studying for the ministry. In July of 1841, these three men crossed the Mississippi River into Marion County, Missouri from Quincy, Illinois, with the intent of helping slaves escape to Canada. They were sentenced to twelve years at the Missouri State Penitentiary for "slave abduction" but were later pardoned in 1845 to 1846 (Work first, then Burr and Thompson last). Although the petition supporting the request for a pardon for these three prisioners commented that they had been sentenced for "no crime unless it be a crime to obey the explicit commands of Jesus Christ. . . Slavery is in itself an open and palpable violation of every principle of natural justice and divine equity and that therefore no laws enacted by man to uphold it can be of any binding moral obligation whatever... " Thompson's own request for a pardon was more circumspect ""Although we cannot feel that Slavery is right, yet we do feel that much of our effort to do it away has been a 'zeal not according to knowledge'; and can now exercise a charity for slaveholders, which we did not before possess." The preface notes that the first edition met with "so speedy a sale that another edition is being sent forth into the world." xii, 14-370 pp.

Chicago: J. Harrison White, 1912. Hardcover first edition - From the author's foreword - "the author has endeavored to faithfully portray the evolution of the Grand Prairie of Illinois into the delightful suburban sites found today. In order that the traditional and legendary associations might be more intelligently comprehended, it was thought advisable to commence with that particular portion of the prairie over which the Jesuit Fathers blazed the way. From the letters and journals of the latter, as well as from other authoritative sources, have been culled facts, vital to the telling of the story of the yesterday and today, of the highways and byways past and present associated with the traditions of the Western Suburbs. The struggles and hardships overcome by the pioneers, the undaunted courage of both men and women in the early days of settlement, when 'cities were planned in their comeliness for a future heritage', should be familiar to the youth of succeeding generations. Local traditions and legends should be fostered, for only by this method can we hope to attain to that which is an incentive to love of country and pride in, and reverence for its institutions. This is the spirit exemplified by those whose homes appear in the following pages; they were approached with intelligence and they responded in like manner." Illustrated throughout with sepia toned photographs, mostly of distinguished houses. Brief bibliography. Table of contents and list of photographs at end of book. 184 pp.