"THE MOST FAMOUS CHARACTER IN BLACK FICTION": PRESENTATION FIRST EDITION OF SIMPLE SPEAKS HIS MIND, THE FIRST BOOK IN THE ACCLAIMED "SIMPLE" SERIES, INSCRIBED BY LANGSTON HUGHES TO A CLOSE FRIEND AND LONGTIME NAACP MEMBER
HUGHES, Langston. Simple Speaks His Mind. (New York): Simon and Schuster, (1950). Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket.
First edition of the breakthrough first book in Hughes' series featuring Jesse B. Simple—"Hughes' greatest contribution to American culture"—a distinctive presentation copy inscribed by him in his characteristic green ink, "Especially for Irene Liggins, with the sincere regard of Langston Hughes Feb, 16, 1959."
Jesse B. Semple, nicknamed "Simple," is widely considered "the most famous character in black fiction." He is ranked with Huck Finn, and the Simple series of books, which began with this work, is viewed as "Hughes' greatest contribution to American culture" (Sullivan Harper, Not So Simple, 3). Hughes introduced Simple in his acclaimed Chicago Defender column, and he "quickly grew into the most popular aspect of the column and one of the more original comic creations in American journalism" (Smith, African American Writers, 169). Hughes described Simple as an "ordinary man on the street… who may not always know, but who often lives, those lines from the blues: When you see me laughing, I'm laughing to keep from crying" (emphasis in original).
On publication, Simple Speaks His Mind won immediate praise: "You learn here at firsthand what it really means to be a man of color in the land of the free and the home of the brave—the tragic undertones of laughter… Simple is assured that 'in a democracy everybody's problems are related, and it's up to us to help solve them.' He is told that he himself shows definite prejudices. But he likes to point out that 'Columbus didn't start out with Jim Crow around his neck'" (New York Times). First edition, first printing: with no statement of editions or printings on the copyright page. Bruccoli & Clark III:162. Blockson 6379. Hughes inscribed this memorable presentation copy to Irene Liggins who, with her husband Alfred Liggins, was a longstanding member of the NAACP. Hughes, a close friend, was a frequent visitor and houseguest at their home in Cleveland, a city he considered home while attending Central High School. It was there, as a sophomore, that he "published his first pieces of verse" in the Central High Monthly, which regularly featured a number of his early poems and short stories (Rampersad, Life V.I, 27). Near the time of this inscription in February 1959, Hughes was in Cleveland appearing at his "poetry-to-jazz" evenings to raise funds for Karamu House, a local community center where, while at Central High, he had been one of Karamu's first teachers for the neighborhood's children.
Book fine; light edge-wear, toning to spine, small bit of archival tape reinforcement to verso of very good price-clipped dust jacket.