The New Negro: An Appreciation

New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1925. First Edition. Very Good/Good. First edition in the rare dust jacket. A preeminent association and presentation copy of this cornerstone of the Harlem Renaissance signed by three of its contributors, Harlem Renaissance heavy-weights and NAACP leadership W. E. B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson and inscribed by Walter White on the half-title page to one of the foremost defense attorneys of the twentieth century Clarence Darrow. While all three signers are considered major figures in the Harlem Renaissance, Du Bois is also seen as a luminary, forefather and mentor to the movement. Additionally to Johnson and Du Bois' signatures, Walter White, who was then serving as the NAACP's assistant-secretary, has inscribed this copy "For Clarence Darrow with the warmest regard and affection of Walter White / New York / 10 December 1925". W. E. B. Du Bois was a co-founder of the NAACP and James Weldon Johnson was secretary to the organization in December of 1925.

Recipient Clarence Darrow was a lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes trial, and was a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union. At the end of 1925 and on the heels of the highly publicized Scopes trial, Clarence Darrow writes in his autobiography, The Story of My Life, 1932: "I had determined not to get into any more cases that required hard work and brought me into conflict with the crowd. I had fought for the minority long enough. I wanted to rest, but....something always comes along to disturb my restful contemplations..."

That something would come in the form of the Ossian Sweet trial in Detroit. Sweet and several friends were charged with murder for defending Sweet's home against a white mob in the fall of that year. The NAACP took over the case to provide extra funding to the defendants. Johnson, White, and president, Dr. J.E. Spingarn, thinking a white lawyer would be more successful in eliciting sympathy from white judges and jurors, hired Darrow and his co-attorney in the Scopes trial, Arthur Garfield Hays.

The trial ended in a mistrial in October after a hung jury. Darrow then successfully moved for separate trials for each defendant to take place the following spring. In the first of these trials, Sweet's younger brother, Henry was acquitted and subsequently, charges against all other defendants were dropped. White's sentiment for Darrow is evident in this inscription, "with warmest regard and affection," the book having been signed after first getting Darrow to take the case, second a hung jury, and last, the separate trials for each of the men involved. White's son was born in 1927 and was named Walter Carl Darrow White after Clarence.

Provenance: Ex Richmond Public Library (California) with rubber stamps from to top and bottom textblock edge, title page and rear paste down, though no evidence of card-pocket removal or other appendages that would point to circulation. Accompanied is a letter from the Richmond Public Library on their letterhead stating this book is no longer part of their collection and is considered to be properly deaccessioned by them despite the absence of markings denoting such.

Bound in publisher's original blue paper-covered boards over cream buckram spine cloth lettered in blue. 446pp. Very Good or better with rubbing and toning at edges of boards. Foxing to textblock edge, preliminary and terminal sheets, and contents tanned. A small chip to the top corner of the front free endpaper has been professionally filled in. In the incredibly scarce original dust jacket, which is price-clipped and extensively restored and backed with paper.

A most significant copy of this anthology, which featured contributions from W. E. B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson and Walter White, plus other leading African American poets and writers of the early 20th century who came to define the Harlem Renaissance movement: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Jessie Fauset, and more. An incredible copy with a dazzling and historic association.