Famous American Negroes - First Edition - Signed - Langston Hughes - Bauman Rare Books

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Famous American Negroes

Langston HUGHES

Item#: 120056 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Famous American Negroes

Famous American Negroes

INSCRIBED BY LANGSTON HUGHES

HUGHES, Langston. Famous American Negroes. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1954. Quarto, original orange paper boards, original dust jacket.

First edition of this collection of 17 short biographies of famous African Americans such as Frederick Douglass, Marian Anderson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar, boldly inscribed in the year of publication by Langston Hughes to an old high school friend who later became a prominent labor historian: "Especially for Henry Kraus—with sincere regard—Langston Hughes. New York 2/26/54."

Langston Hughes' Famous American Negroes was his first foray into history and comprises brief biographies of 17 famous African Americans. "In the culminating story of the struggle to be equal many valiant men and women have brought their race and their nation forward. With integration a focus of national interest, this book seems an intelligent reference" (Kirkus, contemporary review). Hughes profiles a number of widely known American Americans such as Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Paul Laurence Dunbar, W.C. Handy, Marian Anderson, Jackie Robinson, and others. This copy is boldly inscribed to Henry Kraus, a Cleveland high school friend of Langston Hughes. Kraus later became a prominent labor and European art historian. His involvement in labor began when he organized the Flint Sit-Down Strike at GM, often credited with turn the United Auto Workers into a major union force. Kraus was also the first editor of the UAW newspaper, The United Auto Worker. Kraus subsequently moved to Paris and became a foreign correspondent World Wide Medical News Service, before establishing himself as a historian.

Book about-fine, bright dust jacket very good with reinforcement to verso, chipping to extremities and spine ends, affecting text on rear panel advertisement; light toning to spine. A most desirable inscribed copy with interesting provenance.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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