Famous Paintings (2 Volume Set) by Fred H. Allen - 1887

[New York, 19 October 1952].. Original borderless gelatin silver print, 25.5 x 17 cm (9 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches). Matted. Fine. A beautiful portrait of the then 25 year old singer, dating from the year of her Broadway appearance in the musical review, NEW FACES. The 1954 film version was her first credited screen role. This print bears Van Vechten's ink studio stamp on the verso. The subject, date and negative number are also written on the verso in ink, in Van Vechten's hand. There are prints of three other negatives from the same session in the Library of Congress Van Vechten photo archive, and two other prints from the session were exhibited in EXTRAVAGANT CROWD CARL VAN VECHTEN'S PORTRAITS OF WOMEN (Yale, Beinecke Library, 2003). KELLNER G701.

This is the landmark three-volume set, each individually signed, by late tennis great Arthur Ashe. From the jacket(s): "A Hard Road to Glory, a three-volume work, is the definitive history of black athletes in this country and a milestone in the presentation of United States social and cultural life.... A major contribution to both black history and American history, A Hard Road to Glory is the saga of African-American athletes, from their seventeenth-century ancestral homelands to the present." All 3 volumes are illustrated with B/W photos, and include a reference section, sources list, and index.
A description of each volume follows:
Volume 1
1619-1918
Book Description: Warner Books, New York, NY, 1988. First printing. Number line 10-2. Book Condition: FINE. Binding is tight and square. No extraneous marks or writing. Dust Jacket Condition: NEAR FINE. Not price clipped ($29.95). No chips or tears. Signed on half-title page: "Peace, Arthur Ashe, For Joe," (The comma at the end of both the 1st… Read More

Chicago, Brothers of the Book, 1917. First Edition. Soft Cover. [8] p.; 17 cm. Poem by Jamaican-born African American poet and journalist P. Alberty . "Proceeds go to the Chicago Committee of the American Fund for the French Wounded." The poem was the title of a 1921 collection of Roberts's poems. This is the rare first printing. Slightly soiled; held together with red, white & blue ribbon; very good. Stock#OB517.

Danville, Illinois: Freese, Boener & Co. Printers No Date, circa 1910-1920. A blank complimentary notebook rendered unique and charming by a series of anonymous Folk Art pencil drawings, 14 in all, of primarily African-American figures. Some drawings are captioned, and seem to be telling a story- -Where Is the Boy ?, Here I Am, Testing a Melon, The Suspected Man, The Weather Prophet, Brother Gardener Declines, Elder Toots Denies, Hank Was Watching, and Going Over to Sims", the latter 2 featuring men with guns. The notebook reads "Complimenst of Hancock & Briner, dealers in Dry Goods, Gents' Pants, Hats, Caps, Boots, Shoes and General Merchandise. Veedersburg, Ind. Freese, Boener & Co. Printers, Danville, Ill." front cover, and "We present you with this book, and making 'Fair Dealing and Low Prices' our motto, we earnestly solicit a share of your patronage. Call and see us. Hancock & Briner, Veedersburg, Ind.". 3 pages have numbers and figures, one… Read More

First edition. Inscribed by the author to her sister, the dedicatee of the book. No closer association imaginable. Very good in dust jacket with some rubbing to the top edge. A bit of sunning/toning to top edges of the boards. An important Afro-American writer who was a significant contributor to the Harlem artistic community in the 50's/60's.

Original illustrated wrappers, tall 8vo (7 1/4 x 9 3/4), includes 12 full page illustrations in addition to wrapper illustrations. Notes and musical score on inside covers. Wrappers are chipped, and there are a cople of pieces missing from the top of the back cover, but don't appear to be affecting text. Spine is split but holding, thanks to tape spine; some minor soiling. The song 'Ten Little Niggers' emerged from the minstrel shows in the South shortly after the Civil War.These shows became increasingly racist as time went on. They were known as Jim Crow shows and then became coon shows. While 'Ten Little Niggers' would appear in Children's nursery rhyme books, there real purpose was to present blacks in demeaning ways. Tffany M.B. Anderson: "Ten Little Niggers": The Making of a Black Man's Consciousness.

Pamphlet, 12mo, original printed pale blue wrappers, stapled, 40 pp. Very slight aging; near fine and an exceptional copy. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was one of the most influential black leaders of the early 20th century. Unlike other black leaders, Garvey felt for blacks to really gain equality they would be better off going back to Africa. He was a strong champion of black separatism, feeling it was the only way to overcome racism, he even went as far as to propose alliance with white power groups, including the Ku Klux Klan (see An Appeal to the Soul of White America...). He felt the ends of the two groups were actually very similar. In 1914 Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities League, typically referred to as the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). This organization would probably have close to 75,000 members and would be dedicated to black advancement and uplift. Garvey was inspired by the ideas of Booker T. Washington,… Read More

1576 Boemus Legles et Ritus Customs of Asia Africa India Persia China AmericaJohann Boemus was an early 16th-century German ethnographer who is chiefly remembered for his work 'Leges et Ritus', originally published in 1520. This work is an account of customs and laws of Africa, Asia, and Europe. This rare book includesa detailed history of Tartary including merchant and trade activityPersian soldiers – training and clothing"the strange ways" of IndiaLands that produce only white menConnections of law and cultureEditions subsequent to the 1542 edition include some of the first written observations of Americans, according to Sabin. This book was also important in that it was considered to have a direct influence on Sebastian Muenster's 'Cosmography'. (Lach, 336)Item number: #5517Price: $950BOEMUS, Johann Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium, a Joanne Boëmo ... - ex multis clarissimis rerum scriptoribus collectiLugduni: apud Bartholomaeum Vincentium, 1576.Details: Collation: Complete with all pages… Read More

LECTURES on the Philosophy and Practice of Slavery As Exhibited in the Institution of Domestic Slavery In the United States with the Duties of Masters to Slaves.
William A Smith DD, President of Randolph-Macon College And Professor Of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy
Edited by Thomas O Summers, DD Stevenson and Evans 1856, Nashville, Tenn Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by WILLIAM A. SMITH, In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY A. A. STITT, SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
The book consists of thirteen lectures on the subject of slavery as was given to students of Moral Science in Randolph Macon College. The author presents lectures on the various components of slavery. His main reason for agreeing with the institution is that is "a fundamental… Read More

New York: Times Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1995. First Printing, with Random House number row 2-9 and First Edition stated. Fine in a Very Good Plus dust jacket, 1" closed tear with tiny chip at bottom edge front spine fold. President Barack Obama's SCARCE first book published two years before the start of his political career. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Very Good Plus. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.