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Rare and Antiquarian Books

African American Studies

From signed autobiographies of Frederick Douglass to incredibly moving first edition copies of books by Langston Hughes, there are some truly astounding books in the rare African American History books section of the Biblio Rare Book Room. Some of the books featured below serve as a stark reminder of some of the more depressing parts of American history, and others serve as a testament to human resiliency and spirit. Be sure to look through some of the best books Biblio has to offer below.

Results 1 - 15 of 197
Science: The Negro's Contribution in the Social and Cultural Development of America.

Science: The Negro's Contribution in the Social and Cultural Development of America.

by Sheets, Millard.

  • Used
Condition
Used
Seller
San Francisco, California
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A$31,082.00
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Washington, D.C., ca. 1939.. Conté crayon drawing on Illustraton board. 14.5 x 10.5 inches on board 20 x 15 inches. Authenticated by the artist's son, Tony Sheets, on the verso. One of four drawings for murals at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. Literature: Millard Sheets. One-Man Renaissance by Janice Lovoos and Edmund Penney, p. 148.
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A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; Addressed to the Freeholders and other Inhabitants...
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A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; Addressed to the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of Yorkshire

by WILBERFORCE,William

  • Used
  • very good
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
Uncut in the original sheets
Seller
Norwich, Norfolk
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A$9,531.22
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Octavo, 23.0 x 15.0 cm, uncut in the original sheets, stab holes, pp.(2) +396 + (4), printing flaw on page 276 affecting part of the text on 11 lines, publishers adverts dated December 1806, advert leaves browned, an excellent copy, a remarkable survival in the original sheets, uncut and never bound, preserved in a green cloth box.
Printing & the Mind of Man, 232b. Sabin 103953.
FIRST EDITION of William Wilberforce's book of 80,000 words which he completed on the evening of 27th January 1807 and published four days later. It summed up his arguments against the slave trade which he had presented over the previous twenty years. Copies were rushed to the House of Lords as soon as it came off the presses to coincide with the debate and 2nd reading of the Abolition Act that was to take place in the first week of February 1807. The Lords carried the Abolition Bill by 100 votes to 34, and the triumph was repeated in the House of Commons on 23rd February – 283 votes to 16.
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Printed letter, signed in ink, to the Governor of New York (DeWitt Clinton), dated February 16th,...
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Printed letter, signed in ink, to the Governor of New York (DeWitt Clinton), dated February 16th, 1826.

by H. Johnson.

  • Used
  • very good
  • Signed
Condition
Used - Very Good
Seller
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
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A$5,827.88
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No Binding. Very Good. Printed letter, signed in ink, from H. Johnson, Governor of Louisiana, to the Governor of New York (DeWitt Clinton), dated February 16th, 1826, stating that the state of Louisiana rejects Ohio's plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves. 2 pages, 8 by 10 inches. The letter reads: In compliance with the request of the Legislature of this State, I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a resolution of the said Legislature, passed at their present session, and to request that you will be pleased to lay the same before the Legislature of the State over which you preside . . . Your Excellencys Obedient servant, H. Johnson. The address leaf carries a New Orleans circular cancel with a 25 ms rate. Together with the resolution: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana in General Assembly convened, That this legislature does not concur in certain resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of Ohio, at their session in the year one thousand… Read More
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Candle-Lightin' Time
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Candle-Lightin' Time

by Dunbar, Paul Laurence

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Near Fine
Edition
First Edition
Seller
Portland, Oregon
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A$7,459.68
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New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1901. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by Paul Laurence Dunbar on the front free endpaper. Bound in publisher's green cloth with elaborate stamping to upper board and spine; with title page in BAL State A, and a deposit copy thus; lacking the dust jacket, though remnants of the front panel remain laid in. Near Fine, with slight tarnishing to gilt on front cover, light rubbing to tips. Offsetting to endsheets. A beautiful copy. With photographs by the Hampton Institute Camera Club, and decorations by Margaret Armstrong.
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The Snowy Day
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The Snowy Day

by Keats, Jack Ezra

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
Condition
Used - Near Fine
Edition
Second Printing
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Bloomington, Indiana
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A$8,547.55
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New York: Viking Press, 1963. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on half-title page - " For Dana Ericson - best wishes Ezra Jack Keats". Stated Second printing February, 1963, with Caldecott Award medal front panel, $3.00 price with Caldecott mention front flap and lovely snowflake decorated end papers. Near Fine, slight bow to front board, in a Near Fine dust jacket, hint of a crease and trace of wear at head of spine. SIGNED copies of this groundbreaking and award winning children's book are RARE in any printing, and particularly so in such lovely condition. . SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR. Second Printing. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine/Near Fine. Oblong 8vo.
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Archive of Maya Angelou's Personal Library Books, Her Honorary PhD Degrees and Unicef Work Album
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Archive of Maya Angelou's Personal Library Books, Her Honorary PhD Degrees and Unicef Work Album

by Angelou, Maya

  • Used
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used
Seller
Woodland Hills, California
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A$13,986.90
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Important Maya Angelou Archive. 10 historically relevant books from Angelou's personal library; also includes 5 Maya Angelou-owned pre-publication copies preceding the first editions of 5 of her own books. Also comes with Maya Angelou's Personal Photo album documenting her philanthropic work with UNICEF and 2 Original Honorary PhD degrees awarded to Maya Angelou. The books from Angelou's personal library include Baldwin's Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin, which also has Angelou's bookplate in pink in the front cover and an inscription by the author reading "To our poetess, One of the Greatest Women of the Century" ; and A Profile of the Negro American, with Angelou's pink bookplate.(the book is a review of disparate impacts on health, education, and crime, together with an interpretation of the Negro American identity and an evaluation of civil rights progress through the early 1960s; and The Story of Atlanta University with an inscribed note "To Maya" which goes over the history of the… Read More
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A$13,986.90
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Portrait of Civil Rights Legend]
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Portrait of Civil Rights Legend]

by King, Martin Luther Jr.; Sydney Harris (Photographer)

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Paperback
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Paperback
Seller
Las Vegas , Nevada
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This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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A$5,517.06
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Chicago: Sydney Harris, 1958 Black-and-white print depicting the civil rights leader against a black background, signed by Civil Rights photographer, Sydney Harris.

Matted and framed, 19 x 17 inches, in fine condition. Provenance: From the estate of Addie Wyatt, who appears in an Associated Press photograph by Nam Huh with the print.

The Reverends Addie and Claude Wyatt, Jr. were fixtures of the American Civil Rights movement through the second half of the 20th century.
Addie began her career working with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America in Chicago in 1941. Together they founded Chicago’s Vernon Park Church of God in 1956, and for the next twelve years were closely associated with Dr. Martin Luther King’s peace movement, joining him at the March on Washington in 1963, the Selma to Montgomery Marches in 1965, and the Chicago demonstration in 1966.
In the early 1960s Eleanor Roosevelt appointed Addie to a position on the Labor Legislation Committee on… Read More
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A$5,517.06
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Fields of Wonder
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Fields of Wonder

by Hughes, Langston; Marius Flothius [Association]

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Near Fine
Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Las Vegas , Nevada
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A$6,993.45
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New York: Alfred A. Knopf / A Borzoi Book, 1947 First printing of the first edition, original publisher’s teal cloth, yellow top edge; in original dust jacket; written while Hughes was a visiting writer in residence at Atlanta University, containing over 70 poems including “Border Line” that was submitted by Hughes for the 1962 anthology Poet’s Choice. A presentation copy from Langston Hughes to Marius Flothius: “Especially for / Marius Flothius / with my thanks for your excellent / musical settings / of my poems, / Sincerely / Langston Hughes / New York, November 1, 1955.” Additionally, loosely laid-in is a brochure for Hughes’ “The Rhythms of the World” and a single page carbon copy of Hughes’ short poem “Cross.”
Marius Flothuis (1914–2000) was a Dutch composer who set six of Hughes’ poems to music.
Shallow crimping to cloth spine ends, the very tip of the bottom back corner slightly softened, and light toning to… Read More
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A$6,993.45
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Revolutionary Petunias & Other Poems
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Revolutionary Petunias & Other Poems

by Walker, Alice; Jack Greenberg [Association]

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Las Vegas , Nevada
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A$9,246.90
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New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973 First printing of the stated first edition. Presentation copy (signed and dated in year of publication on the half-title page) to famed civil rights lawyer and activist, Jack Greenberg (1924–2016): "For Jack Greenberg / long in the / Storm. / Sincerely, / Alice Walker / 2-26-73." Provenance: the personal copy of Jack Greenberg, consigned by his adopted son William Cole.
Light rubbing to edge of boards, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with light toning to cover margins, light wear to spine ends, and light shelf wear.

Jack Greenberg was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Thurgood Marshall.

Greenberg represented Martin Luther King Jr., but was best known for his role in litigating Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case in which the high court rejected “separate but equal” public schools for blacks and… Read More
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A$9,246.90
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Uncle Tom's Children
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Uncle Tom's Children

by Wright, Richard; Ernest Hemingway (Association)

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
2nd Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Las Vegas , Nevada
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A$12,355.10
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New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers / A Story Press Book, 1938 Presentation copy from Richard Wright to Ernest Hemingway: "To Ernest Hemingway / From / Richard Wright." Stated second edition in married original dust jacket, first published with four novellas; two more were added when the book was reprinted in 1940. In Down by the Riverside, included in this collection, Wright transposes the Italian retreat at the Battle of Caporetto in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms to the American South. Richard Wright was known to be a great admirer of Ernest Hemingway, whom he once named as a modernist writer whose work should be read by aspiring black authors (Scruggs, Hemingway and the Black Renaissance, 58–59). Mild toning to margins of endpapers, light toning to page margins, spine ends gently crimped, and a light pale stain to bottom front cover, foot of spine, and just an inch to bottom back spine fold, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with professional restoration to extremities, mild… Read More
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A$12,355.10
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Song of Solomon
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Song of Solomon

by Morrison, Toni

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Las Vegas , Nevada
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A$5,439.35
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New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977 First printing of the stated edition. Signed by Toni Morrison directly on the title-page.
Corners slightly bumped, minor edge wear, foot of spine softly pushed, a few pages with faint soiling, and a stamp size ghost to back paste-down, else book in fine condition; original dust jacket with minor edge wear, faint toning to spine, else fine. Housed in a custom black cloth clamshell case, spine stamped in gilt.
Item Price
A$5,439.35
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Prospect van het eyland, en de rheede van St. Iago. Geteekend van Johann Christian Friderici /...
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Prospect van het eyland, en de rheede van St. Iago. Geteekend van Johann Christian Friderici / Verbeelding van de inwoonders op St Iago.

by Johann Christian Friderici [= Frederici] (Heldburg 1766 - Cape Town 1804).

  • Used
Condition
Used
Seller
The Hague, Netherlands
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A$37,957.50
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Large VOC watercolour view of Porto Praia, Cape Verde
Johann Christian Friderici [= Frederici] (Heldburg 1766 - Cape Town 1804).
Prospect van het eyland, en de rheede van St. Iago. Geteekend van Johann Christian Friderici / Verbeelding van de inwoonders op St Iago.
Porto Praia, Cape Verde, 1783.
Watercolour with ruled black ink border on laid paper, watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort. 29,5 x 120,5 cm.
The largest recorded early modern panoramic view of Cape Verde, by "the best VOC map maker in South Africa" (Koeman). This is his earliest known work.Santiago's Porto Praia is the main harbour of Cape Verde. It served as an important transportation hub of enslaved African people to the Americas and for the restocking of ships bound for the Cape with salt and fresh foods. These two functions of the island are depicted in the cartouche in the top right. It shows an African family and examples of livestock: a turkey and a goat. The man wears clothes that are also seen in depictions of plantation… Read More
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A$37,957.50
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A Cluster of poems for the Home and the Heart
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A Cluster of poems for the Home and the Heart

by Means , Alexander Rev. (Emory College)

  • Used
  • good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Good
Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Decatur, Georgia
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A$13,209.85
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NY : E.J. Hale & Son, 1878 Alexander Means was an inventor, physicist, poet and a past Emory College president at the original campus in Oxford GA. Many say he was the father of modern electricity. His famous light bulb experiment preceded Tesla and Edison by decades. This is a very rare first edition (1878). The book is in sound condition. Blue cloth cover intact as well as binding. Minor cloth fray on spine and damp stain on rear cover. What is most remarkable about this book is that it is inscribed by one of his former slaves after his freedom. The inscription reads " Susie , Accept this cluster of Poems by one of my old masters from your affecionate husband A.F.P Decatur Ga, Apr 1878. A most precious inscription to a valuable 19th C book.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good.
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A$13,209.85
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De la Litterature des Negres, ou Recherches sur leurs facultes intellectuelles, leurs qualites...
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De la Litterature des Negres, ou Recherches sur leurs facultes intellectuelles, leurs qualites morales et leur litterature; suivies de Notices sur la vie et les ouvrages des Negres qui se sont distingues dans les Sciences, les Lettres et les Arts

by Gregoire, Henri

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Very Good
Edition
First Edition First Printing
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Greensboro, North Carolina
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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A$7,770.50
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Paris: Chez Maradan, Libraire, 1808. First Edition First Printing . Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Octavo. Hardcover rebacked in tan quarter leather. The binding shows moderate wear and is sound. Top edge of the front cover is sunned. A sound copy with sturdy hinges. The front pastedown has two bookplates. The top bookplate is an early engraved plate of "Mr. A. G-du Plessis" featuring a lion and gryphon on either sides of a shield. There is a crown above the shield. The second bookplate is a mid-20th century owner's bookplate. A very nice copy. The text is clean and the margins are wide. A rare volume, this is the first work of the Literature of Blacks. Part of the book is devoted to anti-slavery views with anti-slavery writers listed and discussed. Henri Gregoire (1750-1831) was an abolitionist and the first historian of literature of the Blacks. He offered that the writings of Blacks were equal to Whites and mentions… Read More
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A$7,770.50
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The Black Troopers, or the Daring Heroism of the Negro Soldiers in the Spanish American War
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The Black Troopers, or the Daring Heroism of the Negro Soldiers in the Spanish American War

by Miles V. Lynk

  • Used
  • good
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Hardcover
Seller
Wichita Falls, Texas
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Item Price
A$5,439.35
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You get one 1899 Black Troopers Daring Heroism Soldiers Spanish American War Miles V. Lynk book published by The M.V. Lynk Publishing House in Jackson, TN. It does not come with a dust jacket. This item is in English and is in good condition for an antique book. There is some wear to the covers and edges. The binding is tight along the upper half of the spine, while the bottom half is no longer glued to the pages. There are no loose pages. The pages have tanned over the years and there is some foxing. The red dye from the covers stained the first few pages. Apart from a few previous owners writing their names on the inside of the front cover, the pages are free of writing, This item is 8 inches tall by 6 inches wide. These measurements are approximations to give you an idea of the size of the book. Please see all pictures.
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A$5,439.35
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