35 B a u m a n R a r e B o o k s Inscribed By Langston Hughes 37. HUGHES, Langston. Shakespeare in Harlem. New York, 1942. Octavo, original half orange and black cloth, dust jacket. $2800. First edition of Hughes’ major book of poetry—“a work of genuine talent and artistry”—inscribed: “For Doris L. Kaufmann, Sincerely, Langston Hughes.” “Shakespeare in Harlem was emphatically, unashamedly about being Black… resounding in its success as a representation of the lives and thoughts of the mass of Black Americans… In building this book of poems on the blues, Langston had returned to the inspiration for his greatest creative period.” While Hughes was distressed over the design of the dust jacket, Van Vechten assured him: “The whole book sings with that kind of wistful loneliness you have made peculiarly your own” (Rampersad, Life V.I:390). With frontispiece and 12 full-page illustrations after drawings by E. McKnight Kauffer. Bruccoli & Clark, 160. Blockson 6355. Book fine; light edgewear to very scarce near-fine dust jacket. “A Salesman Is Got To Dream, Boy. It Comes With The Territory” 38. MILLER, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York, 1949. Octavo, original orange cloth, dust jacket. $5000. First edition of Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, in original dust jacket. “Miller came into his own with Death of a Salesman, thought by some critics to be the most significant of modern tragedies; the drama won a Pulitzer Prize and a Critics’ Circle Award” (American Literature, 286). First printing, with broken type “solid” (p. 11); first-issue dust jacket, without mention of New York Drama Critics Circle Award for 1949 and with Esther Handler photo credit on rear flap. Jensen A.IV1a. Book fine, dust jacket about-fine. A lovely copy. "What happens to a dream deferred?"
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