The Ways of White Folks. by LANGSTON HUGHES - 1934

Faber, London, 1933. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition - one of the deluxe issue of seventy specially bound, numbered and signed copies printed on handmade paper - this copy unsigned and marked 'Out of Series'. Green parchment-vellum, lettered in gold at the spine. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Illustrated with fifteen full-page wood-engravings, eighteen tailpieces and two vignettes by C.F.Tunnicliffe. Boards lifting a fraction and vellum quite faded at the backstrip. Internally in fine state. No dust wrapper, as issued. One of the scarcest editions in the Williamson canon. This deluxe issue was originally to be limited to fifty copies but the print run was increased quite late in the publication process necessitating the disposal of the first gathering which Williamson had already signed. Included with this volume is one of those original fifty signed colophons..

Cornucopia Press, London, 1990. Book. Fine. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 2nd Edition. The second edition of Carr's classic, with a slightly revised text and a new foreword by the author. Issued in a limitation of 300 numbered copies signed by the author and by Ronald Blythe who provides an introduction (this being #282). Printed on mould-made paper by The September Press. Crown 4to. 105pp. Green cloth with paper spine and title labels. Top edge gilt. Former owner gift inscription to the half-title, else a fine copy in the original unprinted acetate protector, just a little nicked at the head of the spine panel..

The Egoist Press, London, 1921. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) of the author's uncommon first book: a collection of forty poems and sixty prose pieces which was reputedly limited to 500 copies. 8vo. 79pp. Navy blue cloth lettered in lighter blue at the spine and upper board. Cloth chafed at the spine ends and corner tips. Front free endpaper very lightly browned, and the half-title and final text leaf tanned and with a hint of spotting. Very good. No dust wrapper called for..

Jonathan Cape, London, 1944. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing). 8vo. 164pp. Red cloth lettered in silver at the spine. Cloth a little mottled and rubbed at the head of the backstrip. Printed on very slightly substandard wartime paperstock, yet still a very crisp and bright copy in non-price-clipped Hans Tisdall-designed dust wrapper, a little dust soiled, chipped and edgeworn, with some fading to the publisher's red spine panel colouring. The author's first book..

Faber, London, 1956. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) - this copy signed by the author by way of a bookplate pasted to the front free endpaper. 8vo. 208pp. Original publisher's red cloth with very slightly defective gilt lettering and rule to the spine. A touch of dust soiling to the top edge, and just the ghost of an almost entirely erased former owner inscription. A very crisp copy in the Anthony Gross-designed double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, non-price-clipped but a little nicked at the spine ends with several tiny fractions of loss. Small dealer plate to the front pastedown, obscured by the wrapper flap. The author's third novel; an existential classic..

Alan Ross, London, 1967. Book. Near Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) of Carr's scarce second novel. 8vo. 192pp. Brown boards lettered in gold at the spine. Several miniscule blemishes to the top edge, else a virtually fine copy in price-clipped dust wrapper, fractionally chafed at the top edge and with a shade or two of fading to the spine panel. Carr's second novel, drawn from his own experiences as an intelligence officer stationed at RAF Bathurst in Gambia and featuring a wonderfully bizarre cricket match..

Victor Gollancz, London, 1959. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First UK Edition (first printing). 8vo. 185pp. Pink pebbled cloth lettered in gold at the spine. A small smudge to the front free endpaper, and three tiny instances of very light miscellaneous soiling to the fore edge. Very good indeed in non-price-clipped dust wrapper, somewhat tanned at the spine panel with five tiny enclosed areas of loss, and a little rubbed at extremities with two tiny closed tears and several further slivers of loss. The author's second book and first novel - extremely elusive in this UK edition (which was issued the same year as the more common US edition)..

The Egoist Press, London, 1921. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) of the author's uncommon first book: a collection of forty poems and sixty prose pieces which was reputedly limited to 500 copies. 8vo. 79pp. Navy blue cloth lettered in lighter blue at the spine and upper board. Cloth chafed at the spine ends and corner tips. Front free endpaper very lightly browned, and the half-title and final text leaf tanned and with a hint of spotting. Very good. No dust wrapper called for..

Chapman & Hall, London, 1932. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing). 8vo. 303pp. Original publisher's 'snakeskin' cloth, lettered in gold at the spine. With a frontispiece map, unaccredited but drawn by the author. Top edge lightly dust soiled and with a hint of wear to the backstrip ends, a tiny nick to the fore edge of the rear free endpaper and a pinprick or two of light occasional margin spotting. A very good copy in a good example of the uncommon dust wrapper: a little dust soiled, with several slivers of loss to the spine ends, and an additional small enclosed area of loss and some accompanying surface abrasion. A small area of miscellaneous red staining to the base of the rear panel, and the rear panel-spine panel join tender. The author's third novel. Davis, Doyle &c viii..

Faber, London, 1956. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition. First Edition (first printing) - this copy signed by the author by way of a bookplate pasted to the front free endpaper. 8vo. 208pp. Original publisher's red cloth with very slightly defective gilt lettering and rule to the spine. A touch of dust soiling to the top edge, and just the ghost of an almost entirely erased former owner inscription. A very crisp copy in the Anthony Gross-designed double-spread pictorial dust wrapper, non-price-clipped but a little nicked at the spine ends with several tiny fractions of loss. Small dealer plate to the front pastedown, obscured by the wrapper flap. The author's third novel; an existential classic..