"FOR MARIAN ANDERSON, IN DEEP APPRECIATION AND FRIENDSHIP": FIRST EDITION OF ALAIN LOCKE'S NEGRO AND HIS MUSIC, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY LOCKE, THE "DEAN" OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE, TO MARIAN ANDERSON THE YEAR SHE MADE HER "MOST MEMORABLE CONCERT" ON THE STEPS OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL

(ANDERSON, Marian) LOCKE, Alain. The Negro and His Music. Washington, D.C.: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936. Small octavo (5-1/2 by 8 inches), original black- and red-stamped orange paper boards.

First edition of the "only monograph on the music" of the Harlem Renaissance, an exceptional presentation/association copy uniting two of the 20th-century's leading African Americans, warmly inscribed by Alain Locke to Marian Anderson the year she made history on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, "For Marian Anderson, in deep appreciation and friendship, Alain Locke, 1939."

Acclaimed "the 'dean' of the Harlem Renaissance" (Alexander, Encyclopedia of African American History, 224), Alain Locke "ranks with W.E.B. Du Bois and Carter G. Woodson as a seminal intellectual influence in African American culture" (Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature, 260). This rare presentation/association copy brings together two of the greatest figures in 20th-century American culture through Locke's warm inscription to Marian Anderson. Published the year after her debut in New York, Negro and His Music singles out Anderson for having achieved, already, "international fame as 'one of the greatest voices of this generation'… the exceptional combination of a phenomenal voice with exceptional interpretative power and versatility." In a 1939 work, Locke further praises Anderson's art as born of "the purest strain of Negro folk music; that is to say, she learned early from the Spirituals… the result is something spiritually as well as technically phenomenal" (Negro Music Goes to Par).

"At the peak of her career, Anderson was regarded as the world's greatest contralto. When she made her Town Hall debut in New York on December 31, 1935, her performance was described… as 'musicmaking that probed too deep for words'… On Easter Sunday in 1939 Anderson gave what is perhaps her most memorable concert—singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after having been barred, because of her race, from making an appearance at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution"(Complete Encyclopedia of African American History, 298). Negro and His Music sums up "a great deal of Locke's learning in music… The book sketches a short but sweeping background about the role of music in American culture." He identifies three basic categories: folk, popular and classical, and pays close attention to spirituals, the blues, ragtime and jazz. "In each category Locke is able to demonstrate the social roots of the music as well as its relation to the national and historical frameworks" (Harris & Molesworth, Alain L. Locke, 305-6). This "remained for well over a half century… the only monograph on the music of the [Harlem] Renaissance," affirming "that music was a central part of the philosophy and practice of the Renaissance" (Spencer, New Negroes and Their Music, xvi-xvii). Locke edited all eight volumes in the Bronze Booklet series, and also authored the same year's Negro and Art: Past and Present: altogether representing "a major accomplishment for Locke… an acknowledgement of the value of culture education in bridging the gaps in race relations" (Kofi Cain, Alain Leroy Locke, 58). Without dust jacket as issued; published the same year in wrappers, no priority established. See Blockson 8100.

A fine presentation copy with an exceptional association.