Segal, Edith; Samuel Kamen (illustrations)
Brooklyn, 1968
Brooklyn: Segal-Kamen, 1968. Four greeting/holiday (?) cards issued by the radical Jewish poet and dancer Edith Segal and her husband, the artist Samuel Kamen. The cards were likely produced each year for the couple's wide circle of friends, comrades and family and possibly issued as holiday cards since these four are all dated in December. They appear to have issued them until at least 1981.
The earliest card in our grouping is from 1968 and features Segal's poem "Challenge" and a cover illustration by Kamen showing a trio of multi-racial babies reaching for a white dove. The 1969 card includes the poem "March Against Death," which along with the cover illustration documents the couple's participation in the November 14, 1969 Moratorium Againt the Vietnam War. The 1972 card includes the poem "Recognition," with a cover illustration of a multi-racial group of adolescents in a field and reprints an illustra features an illustration of three multi-racial children in a field of flowers. The 1976 (?) card reprints Segal's poem "U.S. Calling UNICEF Friends" reprinted from her children's book Come With Me: Poems, Guessing Poems and Dance Poems for Young People (1963), with Kamen's illustrations also reprinted from that work.
Segal and her husband were lifelong leftist political activists and used various art forms to protest racism, capitalism, labor exploitation, war, etc (living Segal's maxim "Art is a weapon," which she declared following a visit to the Soviet Union in the late 1920s). She and her husband were both involved with numerous Jewish and progressive camps, such as Kamp Kinderland, and campaigned to save Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Mort Sobell (see Segal's pamphlet, I Call to You Across the Continent, 1953). Segal performed the first interracial dance titled "Black and White" and authored a number of children's books celebrating racial diversity. Samuel Kamen died in 1995, Edith two years later in 1997.
The cards vary in size but are generally 8 ½" x 5 ½". Each signed by Segal and Kamen to the same recipient, with their Brooklyn address printed to the bottom of the rear panel. Some soiling to two of the cards, toning, but a very good grouping. A number of these cards are separately catalogued in OCLC, but not for these years. There are presumably examples in her papers at NYPL.
Kigali, 1967
Kigali: Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, 1967. A run of this Rwandan monthly newspaper that translates to Rwanda: Crossroads of Africa and published from 1963-73 by the Ministry of Information and Tourism in Kigali. The paper began publication the year after Rwandan independence from Belgium and reported on the country and government activities under the pro-Western Gregoire Kayibanda administration. It was replaced by La Releve following the military coup by Juvenal Habyarimana in 1973. Although primarily in French, some of the content is published in English. Issues include nos. 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 44, 48, 49, and 62. An important primary source of post-indepedence news and information, albeit from a government lens.
Folded, newsprint pages (11" x 8 ¾"), most issues 10-12 p., a few 16-20 p., all illustrated with photographs. Approximately half the issues have a Yale library stamp to the top corner of the cover sheet, all with penciled initials along the top; one issue two-hole punched. Most issues very good, a few with light chipping or wear.
San Francisco, 1991
San Francisco: Friends of the Earth, 1991. A substantial run of 94 issues (in 92 volumes) of the monthly newspaper of Friends of the Earth, an environmental/conservation group founded in 1969 by David Brower after his split with the Sierra Club (he later rejoined the group in 1983). In 1965, Brower published the book, Not Man Apart: Photographs of the Big Sur Coast, which featured the poetry of Robinson Jeffers. "Not Man Apart," taken from Jeffers' poem, The Answer, then became the name of the Friends' newspaper. Issues reflect the group's wide-ranging concerns about nuclear energy, population growth, industrial food production, deforestation, climate change, coal mining, etc. The newspaper began as a monthly, later became bimonthly and then quarterly after it was renamed Friends of the Earth in 1990. In 1971, the organization became part of an international network and now operates in 75 countries.
Our run includes Vol. 3, Nos. 4-5; Vol. 5, Nos. 2-4, 15; an unnumbered issue from mid-May 1976; Vol. 8, Nos. 9, 11-15; Vol. 9, Nos. 1-13; Vol. 10, Nos. 1-9; Vol. 11, Nos. 1-10, 12; Vol. 12, Nos. 1-6, 8-9, 9A, 10; Vol. 13, Nos. 1-8; Vol. 14, Nos. 2-8; Vol. 15, Nos. 1-3; Vol. 17, Nos. 2-6; Vol. 18, Nos. 1, 4-6; Vol. 19, Nos. 1-6 (nos. 2-3, 5-6 are double issues); Vol. 20, Nos. 1-2; continued by Friends of the Earth, Vol. 21, Nos. 1-3.
Tabloid format printed on newsprint (except the issues of the Friends of the Earth which are printed on higher quality paper). Most issues with mailing labels, a few with condition issues, but an about near fine run.
Norton, Mass, 1975
Norton, Mass: Wheaton College Black Literary Magazine, 1975. A black literary publication by the "sisters at Wheaton College" that includes art, poetry and fiction. Contributors include Cheryl Colemen, Jo-Neal, Renee Streetie, Gwendolyn Shade, Dawne Anderson, June Gray, Debbie Wright, Elaine Brown, & Yolanda Monroe.
Not to be confused with the Christian college of the same name in Illinois, Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Massachusetts founded in 1834 as a female seminary. Coincidentally, 1975 was the year the college inaugurated its first female president. The college did not begin admitting men until 1988.
Stapled, glossy wrappers (8 ½" x 7"), 24 p., illus. Near fine. Not found by us in OCLC.
n.p., [196-]
n.p.: Fighting American Nationalists, [196-]. Unused letterhead from the Fighting American Nationalists (FAN), an American Nazi Party (ANP) front group formed by ANP leader George Lincoln Rockwell in Chicago in late 1960. The group, which had chapters in numerous cities, adopted the street fighting tactics of the ANP and often joined with ANP members in public demonstrations. Although the largest chapter was in Chicago (converting to an official ANP unit in 1962 under Matt Koehl), a particularly active chapter existed in Baltimore under Charles Luthartdt, which operated independently of the ANP. North Carolina white nationalist, Charles White (founder of the National White People's Party) operated the last remaining chapter in Hendersonville, NC, during the late 1970s, but its primary function was distributing racist propaganda. All FAN propaganda is scarce.
Printed in black and teal on cream stock (11" x 8 ½"), the bottom features the FAN slogan, "White Man...Fight!" A Fine copy.
Milwaukee, 199-
Milwaukee: New Order, 199-. The New Order, the successor to the American Nazi Party/National Socialist White People's Party, presents the "remarkable, prophetic words of Adolf Hitler spoken on February 24, 1945 - less than three months before the combined forces of world Jewry succeeded in overwhelming the heroic, embattled defenders of National Socialist Germany. These words, faithfully preserved in the Bormann-Vermecke, were confided to Hitler's closest associates. As such, they not only reflect the Fuhrer's true feelings about our country [the U.S.], but they also reveal an amazing knowledge of American history, as well as penetrating insight into the American temperament and character, and underscore the tragedy of the Second World War."
An 11" x 8 ½" sheet folded to make four 8 ½" x 5 ½" pages. A fine copy.
Crosby, Caresse (editor)
Washington, D. C., 1948
Washington, D. C.: Black Sun Press, 1948. The sixth and final portfolio edited by Caresse Crosby and published by her Black Sun Press. This portfolio collects 31 contributions from modern Greek writers and artists in the fields of prose, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, theater and music. Like the other five portfolios, this one consists of loose single and folded sheets printed in a variety of formats and on various paper stocks. Collated and complete except for the substitution of "Island Sketches" by Athina Tarsouli for "Contemporary Greek Literature" by K. T. Dimaras, as published. Future portfolios on the Negro and the Irish were planned, but Crosby was unable to secure other subscribers and no more were published after this one.
The folder measures 15 ½" x 11 ½" and is printed in light blue. Soiling and foxing to folder, which is split most of the way down the spine, though still holding.
Campos, Rosa Maria; Jose Antonio Bautista
1966. Two extremely scarce items from an obscure Mexican occult group called the Asamblea Unica Mundial (A.U.M.) Quetzalcoatl, Real Orden de la Serpiente Emplumada y S. S. M. del Quinto Sol (translated on the group's literature as, World's Unique Assembly Quetzalcoatl, Royal Order of the Plumed Serpent and Supreme Priesthood of the Messenger of the Fifth Sun). The group was led by an occultist and cosmologist named Jose Antonio Bautista Orozco who claimed to be the heir of the secrets of the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl.
The bulk of what we know about Bautista and the A.U.M. comes from two items offered here, a circular that reprints a profile of him published in the newspaper Ovaciones by a young journalist named Rosa Maria Campos (later a PRI politician) and a presumably one-off publication simply titled "Peace!" The newspaper profile titled, "The Messenger of Ketzalkoatl [sic] Speaks," recounts Bautista's alleged death and miraculous resurrection following a 1951 assault in which he was thrown into a deep ravine. He was then apparently restored to life on the coroner's table, which Bautista attributed to his practice of Nahoas Philosophy, in which he possessed complete dominion over his body. The article concludes with Bautista's opinion on the Hatha yoga of the Aztecs vs. the "selfish" yoga of the Hindus.
The Peace! publication provides further insight into the A.U.M.'s religious and philosophical underpinnings, including the influence of theosophy and yoga (a subscription form for the group's journal, Yoga, appears at the bottom of the rear page). We also presume Bautista was influenced by the French occultist and philosopher, Serge Raynaud de la Ferriere, who founded the Universal Great Brotherhood in 1948 in Caracas, Venezuela. The only reference to Bautista that we could find was in Ferriere's published letters, in which Bautista is referred to as Ferrier's Jefe del Servicio de Brigadas Misionales in Mexico. We could find no reference to the A.U.M., except for a listing in the Global Civil Society Database, so we presume the group did not last long.
Both items are published in English perhaps indicating Bautista's interest in attracting a wider audience. The circular is one-sided and printed in black on white stock (13" x 7") and includes a photograph of Bautista and an illustration of Quetzalcoatl. The Peace! publication is printed in blue on both sides of a newsprint sheet (11" x 8 ½").
Stacey, Rev. David K.
Marietta, Ga, 1969
Marietta, Ga: The Thunderbolt, 1969. The Christian Identity pastor David K. Stacey argues against race-mixing based on the two seedline theory. This theory, which developed through British Israelite circles over many decades, posited that an inferior pre-Adamite race of non-whites populated the earth and that Adam was therfore the first Caucasion and the father of the white race. The theory later extended to Jews who were the progeny of Satan (the serpent) and Stacey proudly admits that his Christian ministry is both "anti-Jew [and[ anti-Negro." Published by Edward Fields' National States Rights Party imprint.
Quad-fold, brochure format, toning to rear panel, else a fine copy.
Cleaver, Eldridge
Stanford, California, 1977
Stanford, California: Eldridge Cleaver Crusades, 1977. The sole issue of the newsletter of the Eldridge Cleaver Crusades, the evangelical ministry founded by former Black Panther Party Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver, after a religious conversion in 1975. Cleaver, who'd been in exile since 1968 when he fled the U.S. to escape an attempted murder charge, returned in 1975 and surrendered to the FBI. While in jail, Cleaver became involved in a prison ministry and attracted the attention of a number of high profile Christian evangelicals.
After being released on bail, Cleaver, with the support of Art DeMoss, Chuck Colson, Billy Graham, and others, founded the Eldridge Cleaver Crusades and began touring the country speaking to white, middle class, Christian audiences about his "faith in Jesus Christ, traditional family values, conservative politics, and free-market capitalism" (Wells, p. 363). Many questioned the authenticity of Cleaver's transformation, and by 1980 he became disillusioned with Christian evangelism. He spent the 1980s as a practicing Baptist, Catholic and Mormon while also speaking at Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
In this issue, Cleaver describes his newfound ministry and includes excerpts from two speeches. There are many photograph showing Cleaver with various evangelicals, speaking at various churches, and appearing on talk shows. Kathleen Cleaver includes an update on her husband's legal issues.
Wrappers (11" x 8 ½"), 8 p., photographs. A fine copy.
New York / Washington, D. C., 1945
New York / Washington, D. C.: Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, 1945. The Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions was a short-lived leftist group founded in 1945 out of the Independent Voters Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Roosevelt (founded in 1944). It campaigned for New Deal causes, pro-labor policies and world peace and featured many prominent Hollywood actors and scientists. A Hollywood chapter was deeply involved with the case against the Hollywood Ten. Members included Paul Robeson, Ronald Reagan, Gregory Peck, Linus Pauling, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Frank Sinatra, Harold Ickes, Eleanor Roosevelt, Leonard Bernstein, Gene Kelly and many others. Like other progressive organizations founded during this time, the group was investigated by HUAC for Communist sympathies and in late 1946 joined with the National Citizens Political Action Committee to form Progressive Citizens of America, which supported Henry Wallace and the Progressive Party. Included in this small, but significant collection, are potentially a complete run of the group's publication, Report from Washington; a publication on the group's history and purpose titled (
Report from Washington: A Bulletin of Legislative News, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-4; Vol. 2, Nos. 1, hereafter only issued by date; March 6, 1946 (Emergency Action Bulletin), March 8, 1946, March 22, 1946, April 5, 1946, undated supplement, A Visit To Your Congressman, May 3, 1946, May 17, 1946, July 11, 1946, and an undated supplement on Price Control. Various formats, corner-stapled 11" x 8 ½" and 14" x 8 ½" sheets, various pagination.
January 1945-June 1946: The History of the First Eighteen Months of the Independent Citizens' Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions. Newsprint sheet folded (11" x 8 ½"), 4 p.
The Wallace Letter, tabloid format printed on newsprint, folded. Reprints Henry Wallace's letter to President Truman on U. S. foreign policy.
No record for either of the latter two publications in OCLC, although a small collection exists at Yale and could be included there (no finding aid). We find only Duke holding any issue of Report from Washington (and far fewer than we're offering). Due to the group's short-lived existence, any material published by them rarely surfaces.
Portland, 1961
Portland: Universariun Foundation, 1961. Two scarce issues of Universariun Space Messages, the telepathic communications bulletin issued by the Universariun Foundation. The Universariun Foundation was founded in 1958 by Zelrun Karsleigh and his teenage wife, Daisy, and headquartered in Portland, Ore. The Karsleighs were the recipients of telepathic messages from the Ascended Masters and from extraterrestrials, which they disseminated to their followers. Universariun Space Messages was later superseded by the group's newspaper, The Voice of Universarius. Included here are the July and September issues from 1961.
Side-stapled 11" x 8 ½" mimeographed sheets, 19 p.; 25 p. Light wear, a few marks of soiling, but well-preserved. Only UC Santa Barbara holds any issue in OCLC (neither of these).
Brown, James L. (editor)
New York, 1965
New York: African Picture and Information Service, 1965. A double issue of this glossy, pan-African magazine considered by one scholar to be the "preeminent journal of latter-day Garveyism (West, p. 269). The magazine was published irregularly from 1949-1976 by the African Picture & Information Service located at 8 West 117th Street in Harlem and advertised itself as "the semi-official organ of the various African National Movements." International in scope, it focused on decolonization, African independence movements, the plight of African Americans in the post-war U.S., and repatriation schemes initiated in both the U.S. and Africa. This included the United Negro Improvement Association's Black Star Line, an advert for which appeared on the rear cover of many issues.
Given the magazine's sustained duration, we were surprised to find very little information about it, the African Picture & Information Service, or its editor, the frustratingly named James Brown. This is echoed by scholar Michael West, who writes: "Few Garvey scholars seem aware of this publication, but it will surely repay their perusal, as well as that of students of decolonization, desegregation, Rastafari, and Black Power, among other movements" (ibid). For West, Brown's model was the short-lived newspaper International African Opinion founded by George Padmore and C.L.R. James in London in 1938. The earliest reference we could find to the African Picture and Information Service was a copyright entry for two posters of Princess Tsahai of Ethiopi and Marcus Garvey distributed by the group in 1947. In our opinion, the magazine and its publisher are worthy of further research.
Glossy, stapled magazine format (11" x 8 ½"), 16 p., illus. Covers rubbed, some faint foxing, else very good. DANKY 166
REFERENCE: West, Michael O. "Decolonization, Desegregation, and Black Power: Garveyism in Another Era," Global Garveyism. University of Florida Press, 2016, pp. 265-285.
Daly, Lawrence
Edinburgh, 1946
Edinburgh: National Union of Mineworkers (Scottish Area), 1946. A report by a young British miner who was a part of a delegation of 17 young people invited to tour the Soviet Union in December 1945 by the Soviet Anti-Fascist Youth Committee. Daly writes favorably about his experiences and the potential to learn about the Soviet's nationalized coalmining industry, which he hopes is adopted in Britain. He's also concerned with the deteriorating relationship between Britain and the Soviet Union and hopes to correct the "dangerous campaign of lies and slander" furthering this deterioration. He concludes his report by writing, "If we grasp our opportunity, the young miners of Britain and the rest of British youth will be as capable as the youth of the Soviet Union, or any other country, of creating a new and happy life for the common people" (p. 16).
Stapled, photo-illustrated wrappers (8" x 5"), 16 p., four photographs (includes cover photograph). A near fine copy of a scarce pamphlet. Worldcat finds five copies held institutionally, with only one in the U.S. (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign).
Greenbie, Sydney (edited by)
Santa Barbara, 1915
Santa Barbara: Dawn, 1915. An issue of this little magazine founded in late 1913 as The Germ by the millionaire social reformer, educator, and Renaissance Man, Prince (later Pryns, Prynce) Charles Hopkins (1885-1970). In January 1914, the magazine was renamed The Dawn (due to readers' dislike for the disease-sounding name) and Sydney Greenbie (1889-1960) enlisted as its associate editor. By 1915, Greenbie was the sole editor, as well as the director of Boyland (see below) and operated in that capacity until the magazine's dissolution around July, 1916. We suspect that all of the content for this issue was written by Greenbie, including a profile of painter Karl Schmidt and a discussion of Futurism & Cubism; an article on teaching and teachers; two poems; an essay titled "Exiled from Earth - a phantasy of War and Labor"; short editorials on a number of topics; etc.
The Germ/Dawn began publication a year after Hopkins founded Boyland, a libertarian, experimental school for boys inspired by the burgeoning modern school movement. While attending Columbia University, Hopkins began attending anarchist gatherings where he met Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. He became an early benefactor of the anarchist Ferrer School in New York City and later attended Dr. Maria Montessori's training program in San Diego (Boyland became a Montessori school in 1917). The Dawn served as an unofficial mouthpiece for Boyland's activities and pedagogical principles. In 1918, Hopkins was changed under the Espionage Act for attending an IWW meeting and Boyland was raided by federal agents and soon closed. In 1926, Hopkins opened a new school in France.
Sydney Greenbie went on to become an author, educator, and world traveler who wrote many books and plays. He also remained interested in alternative educational models and presided over the "Floating University," which funded a year of studies for college students while they traveled on a cruise, and later Traversity, a similar venture, from 1928-1932. In 1962, Greenbie published the first U.S. edition of Hopkins' memoirs on his Traversity Press, which Hopkins had self-published in Thailand in 1961. Curiously, Barrie Greenbie, himself a Renaissance Man, later recounted that his father had obscured his Jewish lineage and had passed himself off as Swedish.
Stapled, illustrated green wrappers printed in burgundy, [5], 72-94, [12] p. Well-printed, adverts from many local Santa Barbara businesses. Sunning to the wrapper edges, else fine.
REFERENCES: Koegler, Dr. Ronald. "A Renaissance Prince: Prynce Hopkins," Noticias, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2008. https://issuu.com/santabarbaramuseum/docs/83690_noticias_web ;"Sydney Greenbie, Author, 70, Dead." New York Times, 10 June 1960, p. 31.
Frey, Sofia
New York, 1960
New York: New Century Publishers, 1960. The author, a Soviet Jew and teacher at the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, sent an open letter to LIFE magazine in response to an article published in the December 7, 1959 issue titled, "New Agony for Russian Jews: Anti-Semitic Drive Brings Suppression and Violence." LIFE refused to print the response, which was subsequently printed in the Jewish Morning Freiheit. In essence, Frey refutes the notion that state-sanctioned anti-Semitism exists in the Soviet Union.
Stapled wrappers (7 ¼" x 4 ¾"), 16 p. Toning along the fore edge, else a near fine copy.
Durem, Ray; Sebastian Clarke; Eseoghene; Frank John
London, 1973
London: Paul Breman, 1973. Four pamphlets + three promotional items from Paul Breman's Heritage Series of Black Poetry, which ran from 1962-1975. Breman, a Dutch publisher and bookseller with an appreciation for jazz music began corresponding with black poets beginning in the 1950s. In 1962 he inaugurated the Heritage Series to publish veteran black poets associated with the Harlem Renaissance and younger poets affiliated with the Black Arts Movement. 27 volumes were issued in total, as well as a number of anthologies. Included here are:
Durem, Ray. Take No Prisoners (vol. 17), 1971.
Clarke, Sebastian. Sun Song (vol. 19), 1973.
Eseoghene. The Conflicting Eye (vol. 21), 1973.
John, Frank. Light a Fire (vol. 22), 1973.
All in photo-illustrated wrappers, various pagination. All in fine condition.
Americaus, Georgia, 1980
Americaus, Georgia: Koinonia Community, 1980. A group of newsletters, notices and order forms from Koinonia Farm, the Christian, interracial, intentional farming community founded in 1942 in Americus, Georgia by two white couples, Clarence and Florence Jordan and Martin and Mabel England. Despite the group's interracial composition, it initially coincided with its less progressive neighbors in Americus, but following the Brown decision, its status in the community changed. The group was subjected to harassment, intimidation and violence throughout the 1950s, including dynamiting and burning of its farm and an economic boycott that disrupted the group's finances. But its members circumvented these challenges by founding a small mail-order catalog to sell its pecans, chocolate and peanuts around the world and it continues to operate today as Koinonia Partners.
The group intermittently published a short newsletter to communicate with its supporters, although its publication schedule was regularly interrupted by the group's limited resources, busy schedule, or often due to threats from the surrounding white community. This is evident in one of the issues included here:
"It has been a long time since you have heard from us. We apologize for causing some of you to think that you've been dropped from the mailing list. Some, though not all, of our delay has been due to the fact that things seemed to be boiling up again here and we thought it best to 'lay low' and give time for cooling off."
We're offering the following issues: #18 (May 15, 1958), #19 (September 15, 1958), #29 (September 15, 1964), #34 (September, 1966), Summer Newsletter 1969, Spring Newsletter 1970, and Koinonia Fall Newsletter #1. Also included is a form letter dated November 10, 1969 following the death of founder Clarence Jordan; a similar undated letter paying tribute to long-time member Will Wittkamper (1892-1980) following his death; and three order forms for the group's products. 12 items total.
All items printed on 11" x 8 ½" sheets, 1-4 pages. Nearly all have the mailing address of progressive activist Jessie Lloyd O'Connor. A scarce grouping.