A Few Selections from the Writings of Paul Lindsay Russell Lake Forest Ill

[Lake Forest, Il: The Author, 1910. Very good.. 44pp. Original plain black cloth. Minor wear and light soiling. Ink ownership inscription on inside front cover, "Purchased August 1910 Mr. Pickard Kennedy." Occasional spotting, minor toning, a few leaves creased. An uncommon book of poetry by an obscure African American author named Paul Lindsay Russell. According to the introduction of the author here, Russell was born in "a little hamlet in the State of South Carolina in 1890." Also according to the introduction, Russell did not enjoy the privilege of an education, and "his knowledge of reading was picked up at odd times, often under the most trying conditions." However, this did not deter Russell from becoming an author: "Mr. Russell from his earliest infancy was a dreamer, and as soon as he learned to read, he had the peculiar ability of writing poetry in his own way." This Introduction is printed opposite a photographic portrait of Russell. The text prints thirty-nine poems by Russell, mostly on religion, love, dreams, and time (or some combination of these subjects), but also other subjects such as Santa Claus, "Hontoon's Bakery Shop," and "Hog Killin' Day." A handful of the poems are written in Black dialect, but most are not. This is the only title in OCLC for Russell, and it is not listed in Work, Blockson, the Library Company's Afro-Americana Collection, French's Afro-American Poetry and Drama, 1760-1975, nor any other sources we consulted. OCLC locates just three copies, at Lake Forest Library, Brown, and the Chicago History Museum.