AN EXCEPTIONAL ASSOCIATION COPY OF DUNBAR'S SPEAKIN' O' CHRISTMAS, SIGNED BY HIS MOTHER MATILDA, PRESENTED BY HER TO META DUNBAR
DUNBAR, Paul Laurence. Speakin' o' Christmas. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1914. 12mo, original brown pictorial cloth gilt.
First edition of this poetry collection, illustrated with 12 half-tone photographic plates, inscribed "To Meta from Grandmother Dunbar, August 1927" and bearing Matilda Dunbar's owner signature.
The first black American to make a living as a writer, Dunbar aimed "to interpret my own people through song and story, and to prove to the many that after all we are more human than African" (ANB). In these poems, Dunbar evokes Christmas traditions and folklore of plantation slaves. BAL 4962, binding A. This copy with the owner signature of the poet's mother, Matilda, herself a former slave, who bequeathed her own love of poetry to Paul. The book is further inscribed to Meta, Dunbar's sister-in-law, possibly in Meta's own hand, recording her receipt of the book from her grandmother. Meta was either Matilda Dunbar's niece or daughter-in-law (sources differ); in either case, she cared faithfully for Matilda after Paul's death, and served as the executor of Matilda's estate when Matilda died in 1934.
Interior generally clean, light creasing to lower margins of pages 51-61, perhaps due to printer's error. Mild soiling to original pictorial cloth, light rubbing to spine ends and edges. A near-fine copy with an important Dunbar family association and provenance.