Banjo: A Story without a Plot

New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1929. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); navy blue and red paper-covered boards and black cloth backstrip, with titles stamped in gilt on spine; orange topstain; dustjacket; [viii],[2],3-326,[2]pp. Contemporary owners penciled signatured and address to front endpaper, spine ends pushed, some dust-soil and rubbing to topstain, with circular rubber stamps of the Circulating Library Book Shop (35 E. 32nd Street, NYC) on both endpapers; contents fresh; Very Good+. In the original dustjacket designed by Aaron Douglas; unclipped (priced $2.50), gently spine-sunned and lightly dust-soiled overall, with some modest wear, several tiny tears, and some shallow losses to spine ends, corner tips, and upper right edge of front panel, costing a few letters; an unrestored, Very Good example. McKay's second novel, the story of "a black, happy-go-lucky vagabond's life among the drifters who live along the waterfront in Marseilles during the 1920's; his friend, Ray, is his antithesis (and resembles the author), an intellectual in search of himself, a man who articulates McKay's disillusionment with the Harlem Renaissance" (Perry, The Harlem Renaissance: An Annotated Bibliography and Commentary, p.119). An accurate social perspective of Black life in southern France, drawn directly from McKay's experience living in Marseilles. PERRY 377; GLOSTER p.165-166.