Tambourines to Glory
by Hughes, Langston
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Fair
- Seller
-
Carlisle, Cumbria, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Victor Gollancz Limited, 1959. 'Tambourines Glory or in other words The Rise & Fall of two hot-gospelling Harlem ladies.' Author's first novel. Dust jacket in fair condition, browned and rubbed along edges, corners and spine ends chipped, spine browned, spine edges worn, price clipped, boards clean and tidy, pp clean and unmarked, text clear to read, binding sound.. First UK Edition. Hard. Very Good/Fair. 12mo.
Synopsis
Finally available in trade paperback, Langston Hughes's breezy parable of good and evil, friendship and betrayal, is an unforgettable portrait of 1950s Harlem and two women called to the pulpit for very different reasons.For every bustling jazz joint that opened in Korean War--era Harlem, a new church seemed to spring up. Tambourines to Glory introduces you to an unlikely team behind a church whose rock was the curb at 126th and Lenox.Essie Belle Johnson and Laura Reed live in adjoining tenement flats, adrift on public relief. Essie wants to somehow earn enough money to reunite with her daughter and provide her with a nice home; Laura loves young men, mink coats, and fine Scotch. On a day of inspiration, the friends decide to use a thrift-store tambourine and a layaway Bible to start a church.Their sidewalk services are a hit: Laura's a natural street performer who loves the limelight, while Essie is a charismatic singer with a quiet spirituality. Before long they move to a thousand-seat theatre called the Tambourine Temple. The two women are joined in their ministering by Birdie Lee, the little-old-lady trap drummer who can work the congregation to a feverish pitch, and Deacon Crow-For-Day, an impassioned confessor.But then Laura falls for Buddy, a scam artist who suggests selling to the faithful lucky numbers from Scripture and bottles of tap water as "Holy Water from the Jordan." Even with a Cadillac and piles of money from Laura, Buddy won't stay faithful, igniting a crime of passion and betrayal.Harlem Moon Classics is proud to reintroduce readers of all generations to this sparkling gem from the canon of Langston Hughes.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Bookcase
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 70955
- Title
- Tambourines to Glory
- Author
- Hughes, Langston
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Fair
- Edition
- First UK Edition
- Publisher
- Victor Gollancz Limited
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1959
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction;
- Size
- 12mo
Terms of Sale
Bookcase
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Bookcase
Biblio member since 2009
Carlisle, Cumbria
About Bookcase
A Georgian four-floor antiquarian bookshop in Carlisle's historic quarter specialising in Cumbria, Scotland, Mountaineering and rare finds. We are a friendly business, which was started by a local family and is run by friendly and experienced team members.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- 12mo
- A duodecimo is a book approximately 7 by 4.5 inches in size, or similar in size to a contemporary mass market paperback. Also...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
- Fair
- is a worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
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