African Literature

Johannesburg, South Africa: SPRO-CAS/RAVAN, 1973 Rare first printing -- includes the censored text excerpts by the poet Mandlenkosi Langa (pgs. 54, 60), which was subsequently blacked out in later printings. Slight browning to glossy pictorial wraps.

Chicago: Privately Published, 1915. First Edition . Blue Cloth. Near Fine/No Dust Jacket. Folding Map at Rear. Xiv, 277 Pp. Blue Cloth Stamped In White. Good Source For History Of Formation Of Liberia. Privately Published By The Author. Near Fine. Almost No Wear At All. White Lettering Strong And Unworn, Spine Not Faded, No Fraying, Hinges Tight. Inscribed "With Best Wishes" By Author On Front Endpaper. Frederick Starr (1858-1933) Was Professor Of Anthropology At The University Of Chicago From 1892 Until His Retirement In 1923. Starr Was Born In Auburn, New York, The Fourth Son Of A Presbyterian Minister. He Was Educated At The University Of Rochester And Received A Ph.D. In Geology From Lafayette College In 1885. He Served In Various Academic Posts Including Registrar And Professor Of Geography At Chautauqua Where He Became Acquainted With William Rainey Harper. In 1892, Harper Asked Starr To Help Organize A Program In Anthropology At The New University Of Chicago. Starr Taught… Read More

Small Quarto (9 3/8 x 6 1/4 inches; 240 x 160 mm), 504 pages, in quarter cloth over illustrated boards, in an unclipped, illustrated dust jacket.
SIGNED by Nadine Gordimer on the half title. A novel about an Englishman who returns to the African country where he once worked as a colonial administrator. A white liberal, he had supported the country's independence movement and now he's back to see what has happened in the 10 years since independence.
This is a review copy of the first American edition, with a photo of Gordimer and promotional material laid in. The novel won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in Britain in 1971. SCARCE SIGNED.
CONDITION: Small stain on bottom edge, upper board slightly bowed, but internally bright and unmarked. The dust jacket has very light edge wear and a crease in the rear flap. Near Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket.

Octavo (8 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches; 210 x 145 mm), 244, [2] pages in gray cloth, titles to spine, in an illustrated, unclipped dust jacket (hard cover).
INSCRIBED by Nadine Gordimer on the front free end paper. The South African Nobel Prize winner's first book to be published outside of her native country, a collection of stories.
CONDITION: Some rubbing to the spine, small ink spot to page 157 (bleeding through to 158), small stain to top edge. The unclipped dust jacket has some soiling to the panels, a one-inch (22 mm) tear to the front flap fold, a pin hole to the rear flap fold, and a closed tear to the top of the spine. Very Good or better in a Good only dust jacket.

New York: August Valentine Bernier, Printer. Very Good. 1923. First Edition. Soft Covers. Fulton was a popular and respected writer in the Brooklyn African-American Community, he was known as a defender of his people especially women's rights. Mother of Mine; Ode to the Negro Woman was commissioned to be read at the annual Convention of the New York Colored Women's Club in 1923. Illustrated with the author's portrait. Green soft covers with black title. Cover edges slightly faded with minor edge wear. Afro-American ; Portrait; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 12 pages .

London: Jonathan Cape, 1929. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. Plates; Large Folding Map. Xv, 219 Pp. Brown Cloth, Gilt. Inscribed To "Young Thing" Silvia James, Sister Of The Poet, Artist And Patron Of The Surrealists, And Son Of Edward Vii, Edward James: " Dear Silvia, Since You Chose The Illustrations And The Binding, And Passed The Printing And The Paper, (And Everyone Says Those Are The Successes) All That Remains For Me To Do Is To Beg You To Be Lenient With The Rest Of The Book. Yours Ever, Eric Dutton 1929". Also With The Publisher's Inquiry Card Laid In Loosely. Book With Light Wear, But Repaired Chipping To Area At Upper Top Edge Of Spine And Front Upper Tip.

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [126]. Original red cloth, spine lettered in green. Spine and boards sunned (latter, unevenly), gentle bruising and wear to spine ends and top corners, rear board a little soiled. Shallow denting to fore-edges of text block, POI in blue ink to POI: "Doreen & Walter Newlyn/ Ibadan. 23.12.53," offsetting to endpapers. Else, clean and tight. A continent-hopping copy of Tutuola's first novel with an interesting academic provenance. Good+ Amos Tutuola's first novel � a ludic, irreverent tall tale of weird encounters inspired by Yoruba folklore � immediately brought him to (divergent) critical attention, and rapidly achieved cult status, "creating its own genre, setting its own rules, and enthralling its expanding coterie" (Soyinka, 2014). Occupying a contentious position in the canon of African literature(s), The Palm-Wine Drinkard has been subject to various interpretations, from "an extended folktale in search of syntax" to a forerunner of magical realism, a linguistic… Read More