Cannot Plead Black Anymore by Harold Eugene Byrd - 1978

No Binding. Very Good. Printed letter, signed in ink, from H. Johnson, Governor of Louisiana, to the Governor of New York (DeWitt Clinton), dated February 16th, 1826, stating that the state of Louisiana rejects Ohio's plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves. 2 pages, 8 by 10 inches. The letter reads: In compliance with the request of the Legislature of this State, I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a resolution of the said Legislature, passed at their present session, and to request that you will be pleased to lay the same before the Legislature of the State over which you preside . . . Your Excellencys Obedient servant, H. Johnson. The address leaf carries a New Orleans circular cancel with a 25 ms rate. Together with the resolution: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana in General Assembly convened, That this legislature does not concur in certain resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of Ohio, at their session in the year one thousand… Read More

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1901. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by Paul Laurence Dunbar on the front free endpaper. Bound in publisher's green cloth with elaborate stamping to upper board and spine; with title page in BAL State A, and a deposit copy thus; lacking the dust jacket, though remnants of the front panel remain laid in. Near Fine, with slight tarnishing to gilt on front cover, light rubbing to tips. Offsetting to endsheets. A beautiful copy. With photographs by the Hampton Institute Camera Club, and decorations by Margaret Armstrong.

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965 First printing of the stated first edition. Signed by John Ball directly on the title page, including a unique, pithy inscription from Ball, incorporating the most famous quote from the 1967 film that won five Academy Awards: "'They call me Mr. Tibbs.' / They call me / John Ball."

Book and dust jacket in fine condition, with minimal signs of wear. A beautiful copy of an historically significant work. Scarce thus.

The first appearance of African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs, receiving the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and made into an Oscar winning film of the same name, starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, and Warren Oates.

Chicago: Sydney Harris, 1958 Black-and-white print depicting the civil rights leader against a black background, signed by Civil Rights photographer, Sydney Harris.

Matted and framed, 19 x 17 inches, in fine condition. Provenance: From the estate of Addie Wyatt, who appears in an Associated Press photograph by Nam Huh with the print.

The Reverends Addie and Claude Wyatt, Jr. were fixtures of the American Civil Rights movement through the second half of the 20th century.
Addie began her career working with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America in Chicago in 1941. Together they founded Chicago’s Vernon Park Church of God in 1956, and for the next twelve years were closely associated with Dr. Martin Luther King’s peace movement, joining him at the March on Washington in 1963, the Selma to Montgomery Marches in 1965, and the Chicago demonstration in 1966.
In the early 1960s Eleanor Roosevelt appointed Addie to a position on the Labor Legislation Committee on… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf / A Borzoi Book, 1947 First printing of the first edition, original publisher’s teal cloth, yellow top edge; in original dust jacket; written while Hughes was a visiting writer in residence at Atlanta University, containing over 70 poems including “Border Line” that was submitted by Hughes for the 1962 anthology Poet’s Choice. A presentation copy from Langston Hughes to Marius Flothius: “Especially for / Marius Flothius / with my thanks for your excellent / musical settings / of my poems, / Sincerely / Langston Hughes / New York, November 1, 1955.” Additionally, loosely laid-in is a brochure for Hughes’ “The Rhythms of the World” and a single page carbon copy of Hughes’ short poem “Cross.”
Marius Flothuis (1914–2000) was a Dutch composer who set six of Hughes’ poems to music.
Shallow crimping to cloth spine ends, the very tip of the bottom back corner slightly softened, and light toning to… Read More

No Binding. Very Good. Printed letter, signed in ink, from H. Johnson, Governor of Louisiana, to the Governor of New York (DeWitt Clinton), dated February 16th, 1826, stating that the state of Louisiana rejects Ohio's plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves. 2 pages, 8 by 10 inches. The letter reads: In compliance with the request of the Legislature of this State, I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a resolution of the said Legislature, passed at their present session, and to request that you will be pleased to lay the same before the Legislature of the State over which you preside . . . Your Excellencys Obedient servant, H. Johnson. The address leaf carries a New Orleans circular cancel with a 25 ms rate. Together with the resolution: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana in General Assembly convened, That this legislature does not concur in certain resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of Ohio, at their session in the year one thousand… Read More

New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1901. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Signed by Paul Laurence Dunbar on the front free endpaper. Bound in publisher's green cloth with elaborate stamping to upper board and spine; with title page in BAL State A, and a deposit copy thus; lacking the dust jacket, though remnants of the front panel remain laid in. Near Fine, with slight tarnishing to gilt on front cover, light rubbing to tips. Offsetting to endsheets. A beautiful copy. With photographs by the Hampton Institute Camera Club, and decorations by Margaret Armstrong.

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965 First printing of the stated first edition. Signed by John Ball directly on the title page, including a unique, pithy inscription from Ball, incorporating the most famous quote from the 1967 film that won five Academy Awards: "'They call me Mr. Tibbs.' / They call me / John Ball."

Book and dust jacket in fine condition, with minimal signs of wear. A beautiful copy of an historically significant work. Scarce thus.

The first appearance of African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs, receiving the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and made into an Oscar winning film of the same name, starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, and Warren Oates.

Chicago: Sydney Harris, 1958 Black-and-white print depicting the civil rights leader against a black background, signed by Civil Rights photographer, Sydney Harris.

Matted and framed, 19 x 17 inches, in fine condition. Provenance: From the estate of Addie Wyatt, who appears in an Associated Press photograph by Nam Huh with the print.

The Reverends Addie and Claude Wyatt, Jr. were fixtures of the American Civil Rights movement through the second half of the 20th century.
Addie began her career working with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America in Chicago in 1941. Together they founded Chicago’s Vernon Park Church of God in 1956, and for the next twelve years were closely associated with Dr. Martin Luther King’s peace movement, joining him at the March on Washington in 1963, the Selma to Montgomery Marches in 1965, and the Chicago demonstration in 1966.
In the early 1960s Eleanor Roosevelt appointed Addie to a position on the Labor Legislation Committee on… Read More

New York: Alfred A. Knopf / A Borzoi Book, 1947 First printing of the first edition, original publisher’s teal cloth, yellow top edge; in original dust jacket; written while Hughes was a visiting writer in residence at Atlanta University, containing over 70 poems including “Border Line” that was submitted by Hughes for the 1962 anthology Poet’s Choice. A presentation copy from Langston Hughes to Marius Flothius: “Especially for / Marius Flothius / with my thanks for your excellent / musical settings / of my poems, / Sincerely / Langston Hughes / New York, November 1, 1955.” Additionally, loosely laid-in is a brochure for Hughes’ “The Rhythms of the World” and a single page carbon copy of Hughes’ short poem “Cross.”
Marius Flothuis (1914–2000) was a Dutch composer who set six of Hughes’ poems to music.
Shallow crimping to cloth spine ends, the very tip of the bottom back corner slightly softened, and light toning to… Read More