Landmark Books in All Fields
ItemID: #125600
Cost: $400.00

Man Ain't Nothin' But a Man

John Killens

"IT IS UP TO THE WRITER TO CREATE A NEW VISION FOR MANKIND": FIRST EDITION OF PREMIERE BLACK WRITER JOHN KILLENS' NOVEL ABOUT JOHN HENRY, A MAN AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT A MAN

KILLENS, John. A Man Ain't Nothin' But a Man. the Adventures of John Henry. Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown, 1975. Octavo, original orange cloth, original dust jacket. $400.

First edition of Killens' tribute to the proud, enduring spirit of Black folklore and history, dedicated to his longtime friend, Harry Belafonte, "who inspired it."

"The monumental John Henry, the subject of a widely sung Black ballad, whose prowess with a steel hammer (and sometimes two one swung in each hand) made him the giant of rail-laying and rock-crushing a century ago and pitted him at last in a fateful duel with the newly developed steam-hammer. It was a duel John Henry won—but died winning… Killens, the distinguished Black novelist, has fashioned the tale afresh… a chronicle that moves smoothly and swiftly to the climactic steamhammer duel" (New York Times). Killens' novels are a "key link in progressive cultural and political developments between the Harlem Renaissance… the Black Arts" and Black Power movements. "No comprehensive study of the African American novel—indeed, the American novel—can ignore his contribution" (Gilyard, John Oliver Killens, 3-4). In his works, Killens carried out his long-held belief: "It is up to the writer to create a new vision for mankind" (Yette, John Oliver Killens, 31). He dedicated the novel to Harry Belafonte. Longtime friends, when Belafonte needed a "front" for blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky on the film Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), produced by Belafonte's company, Killens accepted the role: in the 1990s credit was restored to Polonsky. The film is also notable for starring Belafonte in the "first noir to have a Black protagonist" (New York Times). First edition, first printing: copyright page with "First Edition"; single line noting publication "04/75" (i.e. April 1975); dust jacket front flap with price, "$5.95." Dust jacket illustration by Black artist Charles W. White, Jr. Owner bookplate.

A fine copy.

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