PHOTOGRAPH OF MARCUS GARVEY, BOLDLY SIGNED BY HIM

GARVEY, Marcus. Photograph signed. No place, circa 1920.

Photograph circa 1920 of Jamaican-American leader Marcus Garvey—"an important link between early 20th-century black leaders and modern spokesmen"—an exceptional photographic portrait signed by Garvey with his bold inked signature along the lower portion of the sepia-toned image. $18,500.

"THE OFFICIAL WHISTLE-BLOWER OF THE HORRORS OF TRANSATLANTIC SLAVERY"

(CLARKSON, Thomas). Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species. London, 1786.

First edition of Clarkson's first published work, his "'famous prize essay' on the abolition of slavery," igniting the campaign "for one of the fundamental rights of man" (PMM 232). $18,000.

"ROBBED OF THEIR LANDS, AND STILL WORSE, OF THEMSELVES"

ARMISTEAD, Wilson. Tribute for the Negro. Manchester, 1848.

Limited first edition of the English abolitionist's major work against "the most extensive and extraordinary system of crime the world ever witnessed," one of an unspecified number in publisher's morocco, a rare association copy featuring the owner signature and inscription of 19th-century Black leader John Wesley Cromwell, born enslaved, who became a leading attorney, author and publisher, signed by him with his date of 1914, with the inscription honoring his daughter, reading: "Bought in London by Otelia Cromwell when visiting that city during the first month of the great war—a present to her father," additionally signed below by his granddaughter Adelaide Cromwell Hill. Armistead's exceptional volume features over 50 biographies of leaders such as Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass, along with engraved frontispiece and eleven engraved plates including portraits of Equiano, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Douglass and Cinque of the Amistad, a facsimile of a letter signed by Toussaint and this limited edition's two additional places, original morocco with gilt vignette on the front board of a manacled slave with the abolitionist motto, "Am I Not A Man And A Brother.” $12,500.

“THE PIVOTAL FIGURE IN THE 18TH-CENTURY CAMPTAIGN TO ABOLISH SLAVERY"

(BENEZET, Anthony). Short Account… BOUND WITH: 3 Works.

1762 greatly expanded and revised edition of the same year's first edition of Benezet's pioneering work—"the first practical manual for attacking the slave trade"—a key influence on African-born abolitionists Quobna Ottabah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano, together in one volume with Franklin and Hall's Philadelphia printing of the first American edition of Law's Extract from a Treatise, and two other Quaker works, an especially rare copy with owner inscriptions traced to Benezet, given by him to a fellow Quaker woman. $9000.

"IN MOST OF THE COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE DESEGREGATED THEIR SCHOOLS THE COMMON REACTION MIGHT BE SUMMED UP BY THE REMARK, 'IT WASN'T AS BAD AS WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE'"

THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE. Segregation and the Schools. New York, 1954.

First edition of this pamphlet by the Public Affairs Committee in collaboration with the NAACP released in the aftermath of Brown v. Board and offering practical approaches to desegregation. $6800.

"HIS SOUL IS MARCHING ON"

BROWN, John. Life and Letters of Captain John Brown. London, 1861.

First edition of one of the very first biographies of John Brown, published in the first year of the Civil War, including writings by Emerson and William Lloyd Garrison, correspondence, and the text of an interview with Brown after the raid at Harpers Ferry—"with the gallows staring him in the face"—featuring mounted vintage albumen frontispiece of Brown containing his printed facsimile inscription underneath, an exceptional copy in original cloth. $6500.

"AN ENDURING FIGURE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND LITERATURE"

BROWN, W[illia]m Wells. American Fugitive in Europe. Sketches… Boston / Cleveland / New York, 1855.

First edition of Brown's substantially revised and expanded Three Years in Europe (1853), newly titled as American Fugitive in Europe with 12 new chapters, issued within months of his return from years of exile, determined to continue his work as a soldier "against the prison-house of slavery," a core work in Brown’s "substantial legacy," with striking engraved frontispiece portrait, especially elusive in original cloth. $5800.

"THE FOREMOST ADVOCATE OF ABOLITION BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION"

BENEZET, Ant[hony. Caution and Warning to Great-Britain, and her Colonies. Philadelphia, 1767.

Rare 1767 American edition, the first published with an excerpt of leading British abolitionist Granville Sharp's 1766 Sermon on "the injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating slavery," the first appearance of Sharp's Sermon in America, issued in Philadelphia a year after the virtually unobtainable first edition, also issued in Philadelphia, of Benezet's electrifying work that broke ground in recording slavery's relentless violence, "set the tone for much of the debate… during the revolutionary period" and documented England's profits from the slave trade, affirming its part in "this evil of so deep a dye." $5500.

"THE FIRST BLACK CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA AND ONE OF THE FIRST IN THE UNITED STATES"

DOUGLASS, Rev. Wm. Annals of the First African Church. Philadelphia, 1862.

First edition of Black abolitionist William Douglass' 1862 history, documenting the revolutionary beginnings of the Philadelphia church in the 1780s, the day it opened its doors in 1794, and its struggle to stand fast in a "slaveholding republic… where the prevailing sentiment was that Blacks were either innately handicapped or had been irreparably degraded by the experience of slavery," with rarely found frontispiece carte-de-visite of Reverend Douglass, who served as the second rector of the church following its founder, Reverend Absalom Jones, in a presentation binding. $5500.

THE BURNS CASE HELPED FOSTER "LINCOLN’S PRESIDENCY, THE SOUTH'S SECESSION AND THE CIVIL WAR"

(SLAVERY) (BURNS, Anthony). Boston Slave Riot. Boston, 1854.

First edition of a seminal pre-Civil War pamphlet on the 1854 arrest and Boston trial of fugitive slave Anthony Burns, whose return to his Virginia slave owner at the order of the Boston court sparked public fury and "set Boston on its ear in the spring of 1854," inspiring Whitman to write his Boston Ballad and Thoreau to deliver his speech, Slavery in Massachusetts, to a July 4, 1854 antislavery rally, with highly elusive front wrapper featuring an engraved portrait of Burns. $5200.

SURVIVOR, INSCRIBED BY OCTAVIA BUTLER

BUTLER, Octavia. Survivor. Garden City, 1978.

First edition of the most elusive book in Butler's Patternmaster series, advance review copy with laid-in publisher's slip, inscribed on the title page by her, "To J— Best Wishes Octavia E. Butler," an especially beautiful copy in the original dust jacket. $4800.

"THE COLOR OF THE PRISONER'S SKIN, AND THE FORM OF HIS FEATURES ARE NOT IMPRESSED UPON THE SPIRITUAL MIND… HE IS STILL YOUR BROTHER, AND MINE … HOLD HIM THEN TO BE A MAN"

(SEWARD, William) HALL, Benjamin F. Trial of William Freeman. Auburn, 1848.

First edition of the definitive report documenting the controversial 1846 trial of African American William Freeman—"a landmark in American history"—with extensive reportage, expert medical testimony and the famed defense of Freeman by William H. Seward, Lincoln’s future Secretary of State and "one of the most prominent antislavery politicians of the antebellum period", very scarce in contemporary three-quarter morocco. $4500.

"THREE TIMES WORLD HEAVY WEIGHT BOXING CHAMPION OF THE WORLD AND THE GREATEST BOXER OF ALL TIMES, AFTER ME THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER": SCARCE 1988 AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY MUHAMMAD ALI WITH HIS SKETCHES OF BOXING RING AND A HEART

ALI, Muhammad. Autograph letter signed. Berrien Springs, Michigan, July 26, 1988.

Scarce July 1988 autograph letter signed by the legendary Muhammad Ali with his original sketches of a boxing ring and a heart: "To Frank from Muhammad Ali, Three times World Heavy Weight Boxing Champion of the World and the Greatest Boxer of all times, After me there will never be another [sketch of boxing ring] P.S. Service for God is the rent I pay for my room in the Hereafter [sketch of a heart with eight radiating lines]." $4500.

"WE OWE SO MUCH TO HER COURAGE, TO HER WILLINGNESS TO SPEAK OUT" (JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG): PROUD SHOES, INSCRIBED IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION BY PAULI MURRAY

MURRAY, Pauli. Proud Shoes. New York, 1956.

First edition of Murray's powerful history of her family—looks "unflinchingly at issues of racism, sexism and miscegenation… a microcosm of African American history”—inscribed by her in the year of publication, "November 25, 1956, For Mr. and Mrs. R— W— with good wishes— Cordially— Pauli Murray," in very scarce dust jacket. $4200.

"A DISGRACE TO THE NATION, AN ACT OF EXTREME CRUELTY"

(HAMLET, James) (TAPPAN, Lewis). Fugitive Slave Bill: Its History and Unconstitutionality. New York, 1850.

First edition of the 1850 law, issued soon after its passage, containing the “only printed record of Hamlet’s case,” documenting his arrest and trial, along with text of the bill, details of congressional votes, and coverage of a mass protest meeting of Black New Yorkers at the A.M.E. Zion Church, stating their resolve to meet force with force in defense of "our lives and liberty." $4200.

ARTICLE IV, SECTION II OF THE CONSTITUTION FORMED "THE BASIS OF THE UNION" (ALEXANDER HAMILTON)

(SLAVERY) (BRADBURN, George) (KINNICUTT, Thomas). Report on… Citizens Liable to be Sold as Slaves. Boston, 1839.

First edition of the landmark 1839 Massachusetts Report firmly referencing the Constitution's privileges and immunities clause in presenting the state's "first formal protest against the laws of racial discrimination along the southern coast," uncut in original self-wrappers. $4000.

INSCRIBED BY LANGSTON HUGHES

HUGHES, Langston. Simple Speaks His Mind. New York, 1950.

First edition of the breakthrough first book in Hughes' series featuring Jesse B. Simple—"Hughes' greatest contribution to American culture"—a very scarce presentation copy inscribed by him, "To F. L. M—— Sincerely, Langston Hughes." $4000.

"THE ARCH OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS LONG, BUT IT BENDS TOWARD JUSTICE"

KING, Martin Luther, Jr. Role of the Behavioral Scientist. Lancaster, 1968.

First separate printing of Dr. King's provocative and often blunt Address, delivered in September 1967 before an annual convention of the American Psychological Association, declaring "America needs to understand that it is poisoned to its soul by racism" but asserting "I have not lost hope… I can still sing… 'We shall overcome,'" a fine copy. $3800.

"IT PUTS AMERICA AND THE WORLD FINGER-TIPS AWAY FROM AMERICA'S BLACK BUSINESSES"

GATHERIGHT, Lesly, Jr. American Black Directory. Chicago, Illinois, 1975.

First edition of this directory of Black-owned businesses, Black professionals, and Black skilled workers from coast to coast, meant to generate billions for the American Black business community, inscribed on the title page in the year of publication: "To Lester Jackson. Thanks & Good Luck. L. Gatheright. 1975." $3800.

"A CLASSIC OF AMERICAN LITERATURE"

BROWN, Claude. Manchild in the Promised Land. New York, 1965.

First edition of Claude Brown's moving 1965 account of his journey out of poverty and crime in Harlem, inscribed by the author: "To Elise & Josh, from Claude Brown," and additionally inscribed directly below by civil rights leader Charles H. King: "Sincerely Charles H. King." $3800.

"THE FIRST HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MILITARY SERVICE IN THE CIVIL WAR"

BROWN, William Wells. Negro in the American Rebellion. Boston, 1867.

First edition of Brown's seminal Civil War history of African Americans, widely researched and published shortly after war's end, a defining work by Brown, born enslaved and long forced to live as a fugitive abroad, here placing "Black men in the center," replacing the “standard figures with a Black set of military heroes," a handsome copy in original cloth. $3800.

"ONE OF THE FIRST PIECES OF HISTORICAL WRITING DEVOTED TO THE EXPERIENCES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS"

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) NELL, William C. Services of Colored Americans. Boston, 1851.

First edition of Nell's groundbreaking history of African American service and sacrifice in the Revolution, issued in fury over the Fugitive Slave Act and defying America's persistent "selective inattention" to Black accomplishments—one of the "most useful and important histories of African Americans written in the Civil War era"—forcing "history to do right by Revolutionary War Blacks." $3800.

RARE TYPED PAGE FROM AN EARLY DRAFT OF THE BOOK VERSION OF ROOTS, HEAVILY ANNOTATED IN ALEX HALEY’S HAND, HANDSOMELY MATTED AND FRAMED WITH A PHOTOGRAPHIC GROUP PORTRAIT FROM THE MOVIE SET OF THE ROOTS MINISERIES

HALEY, Alex. Typed draft page annotated. No place, circa 1975.

Rare typed page from an early book draft of Roots heavily annotated in green felt-tip marker in Alex Haley’s own hand, handsomely matted and framed with a photographic group portrait from the movie set of the Roots miniseries. $3800.

"THE MOST IMPORTANT ANTISLAVERY PUBLICATION BEFORE UNCLE TOM'S CABIN"

[WELD, Theodore Dwight; GRIMKÉ, Angelina; GRIMKÉ, Sarah]. American Slavery As It Is. New York, 1839.

First edition of the monumental abolitionist work by Weld and the Grimké sisters that drew upon over 20,000 Southern newspapers to use first-hand accounts and slaveholders' own words against them, a searing indictment of slavery that Harriet Beecher Stowe virtually memorized, saying she "kept this book in her work basket by day and slept with it under her pillow by night, till its facts crystallized into Uncle Tom's Cabin," very scarce in original wrappers. $3600.

SCARCE 1864 LINCOLN PLATFORM BROADSIDE,“FOREVER PROHIBITING THE EXISTENCE OF SLAVERYWITHIN THE UNITED STATES”

LINCOLN, Abraham. The Platforms. No place, after August 29, 1864.

First broadside side-by-side publication of the Democratic and Republican platforms for 1864 election year (Lincoln v. McClellan), clearly referencing slavery as the cause of the Civil War. $3500.

"THE PREMIERE ARCHITECT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE U.S."

DU BOIS, W.E.B., ed. Select Bibliography of the Negro American. Atlanta, 1905.

First widely expanded and revised edition, a capstone volume in Du Bois's landmark Atlantic University series, this seminal 1905 work, edited and largely compiled by him, issued same year as the Tenth Atlanta Conference, very scarce in original wrappers. $3500.

HERE I STAND, SIGNED BY PAUL ROBESON AND HIS SON

ROBESON, Paul. Here I Stand. London, 1958.

First edition of Robeson's powerful first book, signed on the title page by him along with signature of his son, author and activist Paul Robeson, Jr., who devoted his life to civil rights and his father's legacy, this especially memorable association copy also with a laid-in program of Robeson's historic August 10, 1958 concert at London's Royal Albert Hall and a ticket stub from the performance. $3500.

"MCKAY'S FINEST NOVEL"

MCKAY, Claude. Banana Bottom. New York, 1933.

First edition of the final novel by Claude McKay—"one of the most prominent and militant voices for racial equality in the early years of the Harlem Renaissance"—a splendid copy in original cloth. $3400.

"THE TRUE BIRTH OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT"

(BLACK HISTORY). Photograph, Panoramic. Fort Bragg, North Carolina, circa 1943.

Exceptional panoramic photograph of WWII Black soldiers of the 318th Combat Engineers, who served in the segregated 93rd Infantry Division that fought in the Pacific, returning home as war's end to a surge in racist riots and lynchings. $3400.

"THE DEMOCRACY FOR WHICH THE MEN WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING WAS IGNORED AND RIDICULED"

MASON, Monroe and FURR, Arthur. American Negro Soldier… Red Hand. Boston, 1920.

First edition of the very scarce contemporary history of African American soldiers fighting in WWI alongside the famed "Red Hand," celebrated as heroes by the French and awarded the Croix de Guerrre with Palm, with frontispiece and six full-page illustrations including map, in original cloth. $3200.

"NOTHING LESS THAN A COMPLETE REINTERPRETATION OF HOW THE CONSTITUTION HAD BEEN FORMULATED"

(CONSTITUTION) (SPOONER, Lysander). Address of the Free Constitutionalists. Boston, 1860.

First edition of Spooner's seminal Address issued in the wake of Dred Scott, calling on Americans to "correct the frauds of the past, and interpret our constitution by the same rules by which it ought to have been interpreted from the first," chief among his provocative works heralding "the commitment to individual liberty that lies at the heart of America’s supreme law." $3200.

INSCRIBED BY CHESTER HIMES

HIMES, Chester . Lonely Crusade. New York, 1947.

First edition of Himes' still controversial second book, distinctly pivotal in introducing how racism became "the dominant subject" of his writing, one of the few works written in America before he left to spend most of his years in exile, an especially elusive copy inscribed by him while living in France, "All best Chester Himes, Venelles France,” in original dust jacket. $3200.

"IN THIS BOASTED LAND OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, WRITHING UNDER THE LASH"

STEWARD, Austin. Twenty-Two Years a Slave. Rochester, N.Y. 1857.

First edition of the exceedingly scarce autobiography of the Black Abolitionist, born enslaved, who became a leader in New York as the state's Black Americans made a "turn toward radicalism" and spoke out against fresh laws restricting free Black voting rights, documenting the brutality of his life in slavery, his fight for Black rights in the North, and his role as leader of Canada’s Wilberforce colony, with engraved frontispiece portrait and four full-page illustrations, in original cloth. $3200.

"THE FIRST AMERICAN MARTYR TO THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, AND THE FREEDOM OF THE SLAVE" (JOHN QUINCY ADAMS): FIRST EDITION OF MEMOIR OF THE REV. ELIJAH P. LOVEJOY, 1838

(LOVEJOY, Elijah P.) LOVEJOY, Joseph C. and Owen. Memoir of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy. New York, 1838.

First edition of the publisher and editor's memoir, issued the year after his murder—killed by "five bullets in his heart, while defending his fourth press from an armed, arsonist mob"—only two years after he denounced the lynching by fire of a free black man, as an act of "savage barbarity," with introduction by John Quincy Adams, a seminal record of a key event in America's abolitionist battle and the history of the First Amendment. $3200.

"OPENS A WINDOW INTO THE WATERBORNE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD"

DRAYTON, Daniel. Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton. Boston, 1853.

First edition of Drayton's important Memoir documenting his bold yet failed 1848 attempt to rescue fugitive slave families by ship from Virginia to Philadelphia, a detailed record of his arrest, nearly 4-year imprisonment and the brutal sale of most of the fugitives back into slavery, including his prosecution in the courts by the son of Francis Scott Key, crucial in shifting the "Fugitive Slave Law onto the national agenda," with engraved frontispiece, especially rare in fragile original wrappers. $3200.

MOTOWN ADDRESS BOOK OF ESTHER GORDY EDWARDS, SISTER OF MOTOWN FOUNDER BERRY GORDY

BULLOCK [i.e., EDWARDS], E[sther]. G[ordy]. Address Book. Detroit, Michigan, circa 1970. Vintage address book from the 1970s-80s, used by Esther Gordy Edwards—sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, and executive and founder of the Motown Historical Museum—and filled with addresses and phone numbers for many members of her famous family and such celebrities as Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, Alex Haley, Maya Angelou, Coretta King and more. $3200.

COMPLETE RUN OF THE FIRST MUSICOLOGICAL JOURNAL ON BLACK MUSIC

SOUTHERN, Eileen Jackson, editor. The Black Perspective in Music. Cambria Heights, New York, 1973-90. Thirty-nine issues.

First edition of the complete run of the first musicological journal dedicated to the study of black music, 39 issues in original wrappers. $3200.

"YOU ARE IN A FREE STATE, AND HAVE ONLY TO GO ASHORE TO BE FREE"

(SLAVERY) WILLIAMSON, Passmore. Case of Passmore Williamson. Philadelphia, 1856.

First edition of "the most complete record available" of the controversial Pennsylvania case on fugitive slaves, an exceptional presentation copy inscribed by Williamson to, "R. l. Bodley, With respects of P. Williamson," a core work establishing a precedent "in federal and state courts… and important cause célèbre for the antislavery movement," crucial in asserting a clear path for the following year's Dred Scott decision and provoking a "legal crisis… that led to the Civil War." $3200.

"OUT OF THE SAME SOIL… THE SAME QUEST FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN FREEDOM"

(CARMICHAEL, Stokely) (BROWN, H. Rap). Black Power SNCC Speaks for Itself. Boston, 1968.

First edition of a major civil rights work with Statements by Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, a lengthy interview with Brown, and excepts from a controversial "working paper" on making SNCC fully "black-staffed, black-controlled and black-financed," in original wrappers with iconic images of the fist salute based on Frank Cieciorka's work and the Black Panthers' stalking panther. $3200.

"ONE OF THE MOST DRAMATIC AND FAMOUS INCIDENTS IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT"

PARKER, Theodore. Trial of Theodore Parker. Boston, 1855.

First edition of the fiery abolitionist's attack on the trial and rendition of Anthony Burns, and the federal government’s attempt to prosecute Parker and other key abolitionists—"one of the most remarkable and flamboyant works of the 19th century… on the right of free speech, the wrong of slavery, and the nature of judicial tyranny"—a very elusive presentation copy inscribed by Parker to a dedicated Massachusetts abolitionist, "Mary Drew from her friend Theo. Parker." $3000.

FACTS OF LYNCHINGS "BURN LIKE ACID," TURNING "COLD LEGAL POINTS INTO POINTS OF FLAME"

(HOUSTON, Charles Hamilton) (LLEWELLYN, Karl). Memorandum Brief. New York, 1933.

First NAACP edition of a seminal work chiefly authored by Charles Houston, "one of the key champions of American racial justice," triggered by the 1933 Tuscaloosa lynchings of young Black men, contending the federal government already has the "power necessary to protect people against lynching… based on the 14th Amendment and Reconstruction-era civil rights laws," with Foreword by legal scholar Karl Llewellyn and Postscript by NAACP Executive Secretary Walter White, especially rare in fragile original self-wrappers. $2800.

"DOCUMENTS OF DEMOCRACY IN ACTION"

(LYON, Danny) (MILLER, Dorothy). Danville, Virginia. Atlanta, Georgia, 1963.

First edition of a rare work on the brutal 1963 "Bloody Monday" in Danville, Virginia that left bodies "on the street, drenched and bloody," with cover photographic image and 20 within by Danny Lyon, including his photographs of fire hoses targeting marchers and SNCC workers teaching protesters how to use nonviolence as they protect themselves from "a policeman's club." $2800.

"THE VAST AMOUNT OF HUMAN SUFFERING AND THE WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE"

(SLAVERY) BUXTON, Thomas Fowell. African Slave Trade and its Remedy. London, 1840.

First expanded and revised edition of British abolitionist Buxton's powerful call for an end to the slave trade, the first to include his extensive and influential Remedy, two major works that followed the lead of Wilberforce in calling for treaties and commerce to end the slave trade, and outlined a way to "secure the regeneration of Africa through agricultural development," with large folding map, a handsome copy in original cloth. $2800.

"ONE OF THE BEST ACCOUNTS OF HOW RUNAWAY SLAVES MADE THEIR WAY TO FREEDOM"

STILL, William. Underground Rail Road. Philadelphia, 1883.

First expanded and revised edition of Still's major history of the Underground Railroad—"the only work on that subject written by an African American"—with engraved frontispiece portrait of Still, famed as father of the Underground Railroad, featuring Boyd's "Life and Work," profusely illustrated with 23 full-page and numerous in-text engravings. $2800.

"A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.… BROUGHT THE NATION CLOSER TO THE DAY OF RECKONING"

(BRANDED HAND) (WALKER, Jonathan). Trial and Imprisonment. Boston, 1845.

First edition of Walker's "rare first-account of slave life" in the white abolitionist's electrifying account of his struggle to help seven men escape slavery aboard his ship—"cause célèbre of the transatlantic abolitionist movement"—documenting their capture and imprisonment, the punishment of having "S.S." for Slave Stealer branded on his hand, featuring the engraved image of his branded hand on the title page, "one of the most recognizable icons" of the abolitionist movement, along with three full-page engravings, a handsome copy in original cloth. $2800.

"THE PRICE OF REPRESSION IS GREATER THAN THE COST OF LIBERTY" (W.E.B. DU BOIS)

DU BOIS, W. E. Burghhardt, Ph.D. John Brown. Philadelphia, 1909.

First edition of Du Bois' powerful biography of John Brown, a defining work in which "Du Bois clarified his own mission," published the same year the NAACP was born and 50 years after the Harpers Ferry raid, with frontispiece portrait, a handsome copy in original cloth. $2700.

"SLAVERY EXTINGUISHES ALL THE RIGHTS OF MAN… THE GREATEST OF ALL TYRANNIES"

(BOURNE, George). Picture of Slavery. Boston, 1838.

First Boston edition, issued by famed abolitionist Isaac Knapp, of Bourne's provocative work, preceded only by the 1834 Middleton, CT. first edition, this incendiary antebellum work is by the controversial minister who was expelled from the church for verbally attacking ministers and slave-owners in his congregation--"one of the first radical abolitionists"--featuring eleven woodcut-engraved illustrations of slavery's “appalling and atrocious criminality," exceptional in unrestored original cloth. $2600.

"ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FIGURES IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC MOVEMENT"

LOMAX, John A. and LOMAX, Alan. Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly. New York, 1936.

First edition of the Lomax' collection of nearly 50 songs by Lead Belly, including classics such as Good Night Irene and Midnight Special, with frontispiece of Leadbelly by acclaimed jazz photographer Otto Hess, in very scarce original dust jacket. $2600.

"I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN SLAVE-HOLDERS… I KNOW THEIR GAME TOO WELL"

CHILD, L[ydia]. Maria. Isaac T. Hopper. Boston , 1853.

First edition of abolitionist Lydia Maria Child's biography of Quaker abolitionist Isaac Hopper, a seminal figure in the Underground Railroad whose dramatic "Tales of Oppression," which form much of the book, vividly document "his ingenuity in outwitting slave-catchers." $2600.

MANUSCRIPT ESTATE SALE OF MARYLAND TOBACCO FARMER, SAMUEL BRISCOE, LISTING AMONG THE “GOODS AND CHATTLES,” HIS 23 SLAVES, THEIR PURCHASERS AND PRICES PAID

(SLAVERY) (BRISCOE, Samuel J.) TURNER, John R., clerk. Account [of] Sales of the Goods and Chattles of the Personal Estate. Chaptico, Maryland, 1850. Original manuscript ledger of the public estate sale of Samuel J. Briscoe, tobacco farmer of Charles County, Maryland, and owner of 23 slaves, seven of whom were court-ordered to be reunited with the Briscoe family— for a price. $2600.

"BRINGS TO LIFE A VIVID PORTRAIT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA": MARCH, SIGNED BY JOHN LEWIS

LEWIS, John, AYDIN, Andrew and POWELL, Nate. March. Marietta, Georgia, 2013-16. Three volumes.

First trade edition, mixed issue, of the best-selling three-volume graphic novel, signed by John Lewis in each of Books I-III, with Book II also dated by him in the year of publication along with co-author Andrew Aydin's inscription, "1.21.15," and the signature of artist Nate Powell. $2500.

AMERICA’S "FAILURE TO SET ITS HOUSE IN ORDER, TO RANSOM ITS OWN PROMISE, BROUGHT OUT IN HIM… UNCOMPROMISING ANGER, A DOGGED REFUSAL TO BOW"

(ROBESON, Paul). United States Court of Appeals… Motion. New York, 1956.

First official edition of Robeson's 1956 amicus curiae brief for the long-denied restoration of his passport, a seminal document in the history of constitutionally protect freedom of speech and the right to travel, submitted by W.E.B. Du Bois and others, declaring "to silence Paul Robeson is to immobilize an eloquent, devoted, determined and respected fighter for the full emancipation of the Negro people," with accompanying facsimile of letter signed by Eslanda Good Robeson, one-page document and laid-in envelope with typed address. $2500.

"MORE THAN 100 YEARS AND 200 FAILED ATTEMPTS"

(SHILLADY, John.) (JOHNSON, James Weldon). Thirty Years of Lynching. New York, 1919.

First edition of a crucial 1919 work by the NAACP documenting the number, degree and savagery of American lynchings in "the circle of horror drawn around Black men, women and children," an exceptional copy in original self-wrappers. $2400.

"ONE OF THE MOST LEARNED LEGAL WRITERS IN THE COUNTRY"

HURD, John C. Topics of Jurisprudence… and Bondage. New York, 1856.

First edition of Hurd's influential and very elusive work, the foundation for his two-volume Law of Freedom and Bondage, here examining slavery's classical, international and American history, its legal principles and judicial decisions, a pivotal and highly contested assessment of state vs. federal sovereignty issued as America edged toward Civil War. $2400.

"IT'S A TIME FOR MARTYRS NOW"

MALCOLM X and HALEY, Alex. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York, 1965.

First edition of this modern American classic—"a document for our time" (New York Times)—with 16 pages of photographic illustrations, in original dust jacket. The copy of African American sociologist and professor, Adelaide M. Cromwell Hill, known for founding Boston University's African Studies Center and directing its African-American Studies program. $2300.

"A LEADING INSPIRATIONAL FORCE" OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

MCKAY, Claude. Trial by Lynching. Mysore, India, 1977.

First edition in English of McKay's virtually unknown collection of three early prose works, originally issued in Russian in 1925 and unpublished in English until 1977, increasingly heralded as his "first experiment in prose fiction" and "key to understanding McKay's literary and political development." $2200.

"THE FIRST WORK IN AMERICAN LITERATURE TO RELAY THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER"

(BECKWOURTH, James P.) BONNER, T.D. Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth. New York, 1856.

First edition of "a classic of pioneer days in the West," the dramatic life of Black western explorer and pioneer James Beckwourth, born the enslaved son of a white overseer and an African woman, whose history, like that of thousands of African American pioneers, "raises a different lens to an old tale," with engraved frontispiece and twelve full-page engraved illustrations, in original cloth. $2000.

DAWN, SIGNED BY OCTAVIA BUTLER

BUTLER, Octavia. Dawn. New York, 1987.

First of the visionary first novel in Butler's innovative Xenogenesis trilogy, boldly signed on the title page by her—"the first Black woman to win Hugo and Nebula awards"—a handsome copy in the original dust jacket. $2000.

"EVERY NEGRO WHO SHALL WELL AND FAITHFULLY SERVE AS A SOLDIER… SHALL BE EMANCIPATED"

(BAIRD, Henry Carey). General Washington and General Jackson on Negro Soldiers. Philadelphia, 1863.

First edition of General Washington and General Jackson on Negro Soldiers, issued at the height of the Civil War, assembling works from the Revolution and War of 1812 on military and congressional works that proposed turning to free and enslaved Black men for soldiers in America's wars with Britain. $2000.

"A ONE-MAN CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT"

HOUSER, George and RUSTIN, Bayard. We Challenged Jim Crow! Newark, N.J. 1947.

First edition of Rustin and Houser's bold report on their 1947 "Journey of Reconciliation," in effect the first Freedom Ride against Jim Crow segregation in a series of interracial trips through the South, citing the arrest of civil rights leader Rustin that led to his sentence of hard labor on a chain gang, a pivotal inspiration for the 1960s Freedom Rides, an exceptional copy in original wrappers. $1800.

VERY SCARCE FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF LANGSTON HUGHES' THE FIRST BOOK OF NEGROES, 1952

HUGHES, Langston. First Book of Negroes. New York, 1952.

First edition of Hughes' inaugural book in his major five-volume series on Black history from the 16th century to Jim Crow America, the highly elusive first printing issued at the height of McCarthyism with Josephine Baker's image and biography that was quickly omitted from subsequent printings, a lovely copy in the original dust jacket. $1700.

HE "SLIPPED OFF HIS IRONS… I TOLD HIM TO FOLLOW ME AND HE JUMPED INTO THE BOAT QUICK"

BEARSE, Austin. Reminiscences of Fugitive-Slave Law Days. Boston, 1880.

First edition of the dedicated abolitionist’s account of his work for the Boston Vigilance Committee in fighting the Fugitive Slave Law, documenting his "daring rescues of captured fugitives with his sleek 36-foot sloop, the Moby Dick" with frontispiece of his ship, rare in original wrappers. $1650.

"THE NEGRO PEOPLE… DEMAND FULL FREEDOM AND ABSOLUTE EQUALITY. NOTHING SHORT OF THIS WILL SATISFY THEM. WHERE ONE IS ENSLAVED, ALL ARE IN CHAINS"

(APTHEKER, Herbert) (YERGAN, Max). Petition to the United Nations. New York, 1946.

First edition of a very scarce 1946 publication by the embattled National Negro Congress documenting "its most innovative program, the petition to the UN"—containing W.E.B. Du Bois scholar and historian Herbert Aptheker's authoritative Oppression of the American Negro—in fragile original wrappers. $1500.

SIGNED BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

OBAMA, Barack. Promised Land. New York, 2020.

First edition, first printing of the much-anticipated first volume of Nobel laureate President Obama's memoir, signed by him on the publisher's tipped-in leaf—"the story will continue in the second volume, but Barack Obama has already illuminated a pivotal moment in American history"—with 32 pages of color and black-and-white illustrations, publisher's deluxe edition with photographic portrait affixed to front panel of original slipcase. $1400.

"KEY TO A RECONSTRUCTION OF A BLACK RADICAL LITERARY TRADITION"

BROWN, Frank London. Trumbull Park WITH: Racial Terror. Chicago, 1959, 1954.

First edition of Brown's first novel, praised on publication by Langston Hughes and hailed as "vigorous and exciting" by the New Yorker, issued the same year as the Broadway premiere of Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun—in effect opening its story at her play's conclusion—a distinctive association copy with laid-in printed slip from the Frank London Brown Trust Fund addressed to fellow author and activist Jack Conroy in the year of Brown's death, this copy accompanied by Mayhew's Racial Terror at Trumbull Park. $1250.

"OUR BATTLE IS ALONG A WIDE FRONT"

JOHNSON, James Weldon. Negro Americans What Now? New York, 1934.

First edition of the last major work by Johnson—"one of the most commanding figures of the Harlem Renaissance"—directed at his fellow Black Americans, a clear-eyed summing-up of the dire realities of their lives and useful strategies for the Black struggle, in very scarce dust jacket. $1250.

"NO EARLY INDEPENDENT BLACK FILMMAKER WAS MORE IMPORTANT"

MICHEAUX, Oscar. Homesteader. Sioux City, Iowa, 1917.

First edition of Micheaux's groundbreaking novel that triggered his start as writer, director and producer in a career that defied the odds and crafted "almost single-handedly… a prototype for African American independent cinema," with seven full-page illustrations including frontispiece, in original cloth. $1250.

INSCRIBED BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN GARDNER, ONE OF AMERICA'S FIRST WESTERN BLACK POETS

GARDNER, Benjamin Franklin. Black. Caldwell, Idaho, 1933.

First edition of Gardner's critically praised first and only book of poetry, inscribed by him, "In appreciation of a very Pleasant and Profitable Acquaintance. Best wishes, T— P— From Benj. F. Gardner 10-8-38 (On a train, enroute from Grand Island to Omaha, Nebr.)." $1200.

"WE ALL CRY FOR FREEDOM!": THE MOVEMENT, WITH TEXT BY LORRAINE HANSBERRY, FEATURING PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANNY LYON, ROBERT FRANK AND ROY DE CAVARA

HANSBERRY, Lorraine. Movement. New York, 1964.

First edition of this powerful visual record of America's Civil Rights struggle, with text by Lorraine Hansberry—her last book published before her death at age 34—accompanied by 148 black-and-white photogravures, most by award-winning photographer Danny Lyon, the first appearance in book form of his work, along with striking images by Robert Frank, David Heath, Roy De Carava and others. $1200.

INSCRIBED BY SAMMY DAVIS, JR.

DAVIS, Sammy, Jr. Hollywood in a Suitcase. New York, 1980.

First edition of this Rat Pack autobiography, illustrated with 48 pages of photographs, boldly inscribed on the title page: “ALL my BEST, Sammy Davis, Jr.” $1200.

"REMOVES THE MASK FROM HISTORY"

MICHEAUX, Oscar. Masquerade. New York, 1947.

First edition of Micheaux's last novel that draws on Charles Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars (1900) and "calls into question the mechanisms of history itself" with inclusions of "extended passages from the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln's first inaugural address [and] the story of John Brown," very scarce in the elusive colorful dust jacket. $1000.

"HERE WAS A MAN WHO HAS SERVED HIS COUNTRY, AND WHAT HAD IT GOTTEN HIM?"

FORMAN, James. Sammy Younge, Jr. New York, 1968.

First edition of a powerful account of the murder of Black Navy veteran Sammy Younge, Jr., which marked to Forman "the end of tactical non-violence," inscribed in the year of publication by him to the wife of legendary Folkways Music' founder Moses Asch, "To My Dear Friend Frances Asch, Best Wishes James Forman 12/15/68." $950.

FAITH RINGGOLD'S AUNT HARRIET'S UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN THE SKY, A WONDERFUL ASSOCIATION COPY INSCRIBED BY DR. MAYA ANGELOU

(ANGELOU, Maya) RINGGOLD, Faith. Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad. New York, 1992.

First edition of the renowned artist's second children's book—"a unique and creative vision"—an especially memorable association copy wonderfully inscribed in the year of publication by Maya Angelou, "B—J— Joy! Maya Angelou 11/19/92." Oprah Winfrey notably commissioned Ringgold's 1989 story quilt, Maya's Quilt of Life, as a birthday gift for Angelou, who was a passionate collector of Ringgold's art. $950.

"TESTAMENT TO A GREAT HISTORICAL EPOCH AND TO THE VISION OF A MODERN MASTER" (HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.)

LAWRENCE, Jacob. Migration Series. Washington, 1993.

First edition of this exhibition catalog containing full-color reproductions of all 60 panels from Lawrence's seminal Migration Series, boldly signed on the title page by Jacob Lawrence. $950.

"'FAITH' IN THE FIGHT OF BLACK MEN FOR FREEDOM"

WRIGHT, Richard. Bright and Morning Star. New York, 1941.

First separate edition of one of Wright's earliest and most provocative looks at "racial injustice and violence in the American South," based on rumors he heard as a young boy about a Black woman who "avenged the murder of her husband" by shooting the white men responsible, a handsome copy in fragile original wrappers. $950.

"EARLY IN THE SPRING OF 1750, IN THE VILLAGE OF JUFFURE, A MANCHILD WAS BORN…"

HALEY, Alex. Roots. Garden City, 1976.

First trade edition of Haley's acclaimed historical novel, inscribed by him in the year of publication, "10/21/76 E—, it's a pleasure to know you! Alex Haley." $950.

OUR TIME IS NOW, SIGNED BY STACEY ABRAMS

ABRAMS, Stacey. Our Time Is Now. New York, 2020.

First edition of Abrams' urgent call for continuing the battle against voter suppression—a "story about how and why we fight for our democracy"—scarce preferred first printing with title page containing Abrams' bold signature in black felt pen. $850.