RAWLINGS, Marjorie Kinnan
Second Printing, with the publisher's seal (though lacking the 'A') on the copyright page, and the length of the alligator mentioned on p.184 reduced to "twenty feet." Octavo (19.25cm); light green cloth, with titling and decorative elements stamped in gilt and dark blue on spine and front cover; green topstain; dustjacket; [viii],334,[2]pp. Trivial wear to extremities, contemporary owner's ink name to front endpaper, else a fresh, very Near Fine copy. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), showing light wear and dust-soil to extremities, and a few small surface abrasions to front panel; Very Good+ or better. The author's first book, a novel spanning three generations of a family in the Florida swamps. COAN, p.7; HANNA 2964.
[AFRICAN AMERICANA] TIDYMAN, Ernest
First Impression. Octavo (20.25cm); navy blue paper-covered boards, with titles stamped in silver on spine; dustjacket; [iv],188pp. Author's copyright notice on copyright page blacked-out by publisher (found in some copies, and not in others), else Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, unclipped (priced £1.75 net), showing light wear to extremities, with two small abrasions and a touch of dustiness to rear panel. Not the first, but certainly the best-known of the Blaxploitation novels that proliferated in the 1960's-70's. First published by Macmillan in 1970, Tidyman introduced the world to fictional detective John Shaft, spawning a trio of films between 1971-73 starring Richard Roundtree (Shaft, Shaft's Big Score, and Shaft in Africa). A significant and somewhat underrated debut; Tidyman, a White author, would create perhaps the most iconic Black fictional character of the 1970s. HUBIN, p.404; BLOCKSON 6353.
FORBES, Rosita
First Printing. Octavo (19cm); purple cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine and front cover; dustjacket; 355,[1]pp ads. Light wear to spine ends, top edge dust-soiled, with mild biopredation to text edges; contents clean; Very Good. Dustjacket is price-clipped, showing moderate wear, some dust-soil, several splash marks to spine, with a semi-circular stain to base of spine (extending onto lower rear panel), a few shallow losses, with some nicks, tears, and attendant creases; Very Good. Sixth novel by the English travel writers and explorer - a romantic adventure novel set in North Africa. Basis for the 1928 British silent film The White Sheik, starring Lillian Hall-Davis, Warwick Ward, and Jameson Thomas.
First printing. Octavo. Maroon cloth gilt; xi,273pp. Front hinge thinly cracked (holding); just mild external rubbing and soil, including to text block edges; text clean and unmarked - Very Good. With ownership signature, printed bookplate, and ink stamp of prominent St. Louis gynecologist and book collector E. Lee Dorsett, M.D. (1883-1967). First American edition of a work first published in Rome in 1897. Mrs. Gibbs' translation was first issued in London, Chapman & Hall, 1906. CRABTREE 1576 (citing the 2nd Italian edition, 1906): "Lapponi, a Catholic author, writes of many remarkable spiritistic phenomena, which he believes to be the work of the Devil."
AFRICAN-AMERICANA] DWIGHT, Theodore
Early such piece arguing against slavery, delivered by the Federalist lawyer and cousin of Aaron Burr. The Society was founded just four years previously, in 1790, and Dwight would work assiduously as an attorney representing free black New Yorkers who had been kidnapped to be placed on the slave market. "Although he wrote too much and too rapidly for lasting fame, his political articles were bright and spicy" ("Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1888), Vol. II, p. 282). EVANS 26922; SABIN 21530. Octavo (19.5cm.); disbound; 24pp.; [A]-C4. Title page and last leaf of text (serving as upper and rear wrappers) separated but present, upper wrapper rather soiled, extremities chipped and a bit brittle. A Good, serviceable copy only.
First printing. 12mo (19.5cm). Blue cloth stamped in gilt, in cream dust jacket; viii,97,[1]pp; Light rubbing to corners and spine ends, mild discoloration to endleaves, else a firm, clean, Near Fine copy. Jacket with mild dustsoil, toning to spine, rubbing to edges, short tear at head neatly mended with paper tape to verso: Very Good. "A True Story of the Massacre of the Court Officials at Hillsville, Virginia, by the Allen Clan." [63585].