Bootsie and Others. A Selection of Cartoons.

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company,, 1958. A double-inscribed copy First edition, first printing, inscribed by both authors on the title page, "Best wishes, Ollie Harrington" and "Sincerely - Langston Hughes". The poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes writes in his introduction, "as a social satirist in the field of race relations, Ollie Harrington is unsurpassed. Visually funny almost always, situation-wise, his pictures frequently have the quality of the blues". Ollie Harrington (1912-1995), one of the first African American cartoonists, was a prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance who began his career in New York City's Amsterdam News with the highly popular cartoon series "Dark Laughter", later renamed "Bootsie" after its most iconic character. "In his field of cartooning, he was a giant, a consummate artist and social critic whose genius forged visual satire into a formidable weapon that he used relentlessly in his fight against racial injustice at home. Langston Hughes - no slouch himself when it comes to humour - called him 'America's greatest Black cartoonist'" (Ebony, February 1996, p. 122). Octavo. Original yellow cloth, spine lettered in green. With dust jacket. Full-page cartoons throughout by Ollie Harrington. Library decommission note on front pastedown. Light soiling to cloth and rubbing to extremities, offsetting to endpapers, else clean. A very good copy in good, slightly spotted dust jacket, spine and upper edges darkened, closed tears to extremities and folds with numerous tape reinforcements on verso, small scuff to rear panel, unclipped.