Sunrise is Coming After While

NY: Limited Editions Club, 1998. Beasley, Phoebe. Folio. (i), 23ff. One of 300 copies. Signed by Maya Angelou and the artist, Phoebe Beasley. Illustrated with silkscreens of six collages by Beasley. This collection of poems by Langston Hughes was selected by Angelou, who also wrote the Introduction and Afterword. Although Hughes was a fairly controversial poet in his time, often criticized for the deceptive simplicity of his verses, he "succeeded in his lifetime aim: to create a body of work that would epitomize the beauty and variety of African-American experiences, as well as the diversity of emotions, thoughts, and dreams that he saw common to all human beings." Beasley's collages were chosen by Angelou to perfectly compliment Hughes's eloquent poems. According to Angelou, "She sees human beings, our foibles, frailties and strengths, and she cares about what she sees." Beasley's work is influenced by two of the forerunners of African-American art, Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, and her artwork was twice awarded the Presidential Seal. Bound in purple cloth with a black morocco lettering piece bearing the title in gilt. Housed in a matching purple cloth-covered. One bumped corner to box, else fine. Laid in is the Limited Editions Club newsletter announcing the book's publication.