"LANGSTON HUGHES, TO HAROLD—WITH THANKS FOR HIS MUSIC FOR THIS POEM": RARE COLLECTION OF WORKS INSCRIBED BY LANGSTON HUGHES, INCLUDING INSCRIBED FIRST EDITIONS OF SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM AND FREEDOM'S PLOW, HIS POEM MADAM AND THE NUMBER RUNNER INSCRIBED BY HIM TO RENOWNED COMPOSER HAROLD SHAPERO, TOGETHER WITH AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE FOR HUGHES' POEM, BONDS FOR ALL, FROM THE ESTATE OF HAROLD SHAPERO

(SHAPERO, Harold) HUGHES, Langston. Shakespeare in Harlem. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1942. WITH: Freedom's Plow. New York: Musette, 1943. WITH: Typed poem inscribed. WITH: Two typed poems. WITH: Manuscript leaf of sheet music, Bonds for All, inscribed. Yaddo: 1943. Six items. Octavo, original orange cloth, original dust jacket; Slim octavo, original paper wrappers staple-bound as issued; pp. 14; Single typed leaf (8-1/2 by 11 inches) inscribed on recto; two typed leaves (8-1/2 by 11 inches / 4 by 6 inches); manuscript leaf of sheet music (10 by 13 inches). Housed in a custom clamshell box and matching portfolio.

Rare collection of inscribed works by Hughes revealing an important if little known 1943 collaboration with noted composer Harold Shapero, featuring a first edition of Shakespeare in Harlem, inscribed by Hughes in his first month at Yaddo, where he was the first black writer to break the segregation ban, along with a first edition of Freedom's Plow, inscribed by him. "To Harold Shapero, Sincerely Langston Hughes, Yaddo, August 17, 1943," together with a typed carbon leaf of his poem, Madam and the Number Runner, inscribed, "Langston Hughes, To Harold—With thanks for his music for this poem," and an inscribed manuscript leaf of sheet music with an original score attributed to Shapero for Hughes' poem, Bonds for All, and more, from the estate of Harold Shapero.

"Langston Hughes is one of the essential figures in American literature" (New York Times). In August 1943 Hughes became the first African American writer invited to Yaddo, the prestigious artistic retreat that broke a policy of segregation by opening its doors to "African American writers, composers and visual artists" (McGee, Yaddo, 10). Hughes was at Yaddo for nearly four months, joined by writers such as Carson McCullers, and composer Harold Shapero. This exceptional collection, which features several works inscribed by Hughes and a musical score attributed to Shapero, is especially significant in affirming the creative if little known musical partnership of Hughes and Shapero. It is from the estate of Shapero, whose Symphony for Classical Orchestra would premiere later the same decade with Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony.

Prominently featured is a first edition of Hughes' Shakespeare in Harlem, boldly inscribed on the title page by him in the first month of his stay at Yaddo: "To Sonny—Sincerely—Langston, Yaddo, Saratoga, August 1943." The book contains a laid-in typed poem on a single leaf titled, A Lullaby Cheat: attributed to Hughes and said to be unpublished. The collection also offers a first edition of Freedom's Plow, inscribed by him on the copyright page, "To Harold Shapero, Sincerely, Langston Hughes, Yaddo, August 17, 1943." Freedom's Plow came about as a commission by the National Urban League for a "prose poem to be recited to orchestral accompaniment" by Paul Muni. In it Hughes evokes an America that "is a dream… For all America, for all the world" (Leach, Langston Hughes, 113).

This rare collection affirms Hughes' importance to American literature and music. To many, as well, he was "black America's most original poet" (African American Writers, 174). Shapero, like Hughes, was a highly innovative creative figure. "Aaron Copland, surveying the American scene in 1949, called him the most gifted composer of his generation… During the 1940s Shapero wrote prolifically, including three witty and inventive piano sonatas, an exuberant Sonata for Violin and Piano, and diverse chamber works and songs. His major achievement during this period was his Symphony for Classical Orchestra, a 45-minute work in four movements, completed in 1947… a brash, American contemporary counterpart to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony" (New York Times). Shakespeare in Harlem: "First Edition" stated on copyright page. Freedom's Plow: first published in Opportunity (April 1943) (Collected Poems 267); First issue with "For Victory" stamp on verso of rear wrapper. "Hughes made extensive changes in the stanza and line lengths of the poem from its first appearance to the final version in Selected Poems of Langston Hughes (1959)" (Collected Poems 655n). Madam and the Number Runner: first published in Contemporary Poetry (Autumn 1943), later titled, Madam and the Number Writer (Collected Poems 269). Julliard Student Struggles with Higher Instrumentation: first published in Lionel Hampton's Swing Book (1946). Later titled, Conservatory Student Struggles with Higher Instrumentation (Collected Poems 319). Bonds for All: written August 1943 (Collected Poems 584). Brucolli & Clark, 160. Hughes' works have been set to music by composers such as Emerson Harper, Kurt Weill, David Martin, Sammy Heyward, Margaret Bonds, Jobe Huntley and others. Bruccoli & Clark show no printings of sheet music containing Hughes' lyrics and music by Shapero. Hughes' inscribed "Sonny" in Shakespeare in Harlem, which is likely a nickname for Shapero, remains unverified.

(Shakespeare) book fine; tiny bit of edge-wear to about-fine dust jacket; (Freedom's Plow) fine; leaves of typed poems fine; (Bonds for All) light edge-wear. A rare about-fine collection of presentation/association works with an exceptional musical provenance.