Black Arts Movement from Lorne Bair Rare Books

Houston: Bigsby Design and Blaffer Gallery, 1997. First Edition. First Printing. Folio (66cm); pictorial wrappers; full colour illustrations, folded as issued; 18pp. including covers; light horizontal fold to book and wrapper, A Near Fine copy that includes the illustrated "potato-sack" dust wrapper, also in Near Fine condition but lacking the artist's signature copper penny. From the exhibition held… Read more about this item

Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1970. First Edition. First Printing, cloth issue. Octavo (20.75cm); gray cloth, with titles stamped in black and blue on spine; dustjacket; 64pp. Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, unclipped (priced $4.00), with some light foxing to spine and right edge of front panel. The author's first poetry collection from a mainstream publisher, and third… Read more about this item

Detroit: Lotus Press, 1975. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); light blue sheets, mimeographed in three colors and bound with royal blue tape along spine; 44,[2]pp; illus. A Fine, unread copy. The native Detroit author's first book of poems. Cobb was a member of the Black Christian Nationalist Movement at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, and a former… Read more about this item

[San Francisco: Journal of Black Poetry], 1970. Original illustrated poster, printed in black on white stock, measuring 44.5cm x 57.5cm (17.5" x 22.5"). Edges a little curled from being rolled, else Fine (unbacked). Promotional poster for The Journal of Black Poetry Press, a significant Bay Area periodical founded by Joe Goncalves in 1966. The poster features striking Afrofuturist imagery… Read more about this item

Detroit: Broadside Press, 1969. First Edition. First Printing, wrappered issue. Octavo (21.5cm); photo-illustrated card wrappers, stapled; 64pp. Light wear to extremities, a few faint creases to front wrapper, with a faint patch of soil to lower rear wrapper; contents clean; Very Good or better. The Black Arts poet's third book, featuring 25 poems, a preface by the author, and… Read more about this item

University Park: Black Studies Program and Audio-Visual Services / Penn State, 1987. Second Edition. Octavo (22.5cm); illustrated wrappers, titled in white; 24pp; +4 blank order forms; rubbing to edges of covers; minor corner bend on lower front cover; former owner's address label at rear; Very Good+ or better. An updated version of the 1973 catalog. "The media included… Read more about this item

Los Angeles: Poets Pay Rent, Too, 1978. First Edition. First Printing. Signed by author on the title page. Octavo (21.5cm); illustrated white wrappers, titled in red on cover and black on the spine; 63pp.; priced $4.50 on rear cover; illustrated; light rubbing wear to extremities; minor foxing to title page and outer textblock; a Near Fine copy.

Washington DC: Howard University, 1972. First Edition. First Printing. Quarto (28cm); yellow wrappers, titled in brown; 217pp.; light rubbing only, Near Fine. Typed manuscript from the Department of History at Howard University. Includes lesson plans, activities, bibliographical information, questions and procedures.

London: Race Today Collective, 1977. First Thus. Quarto (29.5cm); white wrappers illustrated in yellow and blue on the front cover, titled in black; priced 50p on the front cover; 23pp.; minor wear, a Fine copy, being a compilation of articles from 'Race Today' from Jul 1974 to Jun 1977. "Carnival 1976 ended in a full scale battle on… Read more about this item

Ashland, OH: Ashland Poetry Press, 1971. First Edition. Octavo (21.5cm); photo-illustrated wrappers, stapled; 55pp. Light wear to extremities, else Fine. Louisiana-born poet, whose work primarily addresses racial tensions, beginning with the poem "The White Man Pressed the Locks," in which a white man locks his car doors while driving "down the concrete vein." Also includes poems dedicated to Frantz… Read more about this item

Philadelphia: Dorrance & Company, 1973. First Edition. Octavo (21.5cm); red cloth, with titles stamped in black on spine; dustjacket; [vi],86,[4]pp. Fine in a Near Fine dustjacket, unclipped (priced $3.95), with scattered foxing to flap folds and edges. The Philadelphia activist and author's second book of poetry, following his debut volume Guerilla Warfare in Philly. Jones, strongly influenced by the… Read more about this item

New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, [1967]. First Edition. Octavo (20cm.); publisher's cloth in black pictorial dust jacket; xxiv,231pp.; photo-illustrated endpapers. Jacket extremities a bit chipped and spotted, faint surface scratch to rear panel, else Near Very Good and sound. Chronologically organized, from Phillis Wheatley to Paul Laurence Dunbar, Countee Cullen to Gwendolyn Brooks, Ted Joans to Leroi Jones… Read more about this item

[Berkeley: Yardbird Publishing Incorporated, 1976]. First Edition. Octavo (20.75cm.); publisher's pictorial card wrappers; [10],312,[14](ads)pp.; illus. Light wear to wrapper extremities, else Near Fine. Includes contributions by Reed, John A. Williams, Amiri Baraka, Lesley Silko, Stanley Crouch, and many others. Also includes an interview with Eldridge Cleaver.

Berkeley: Yardbird Publishing Cooperative, [1973]. First Edition. Octavo (20.75cm.); publisher's pictorial card wrappers; xiv,224pp.; illus. Light wear to wrapper extremities, else Near Fine. Includes contributions by Young, Reed, John A. Williams, Jay Wright, and many others.

Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press, [1974]. First Edition. Slim octavo (20.75cm.); publisher's boards in orange decorative dust jacket; 64pp. A hint of wear, else Near Fine. Poetry collection by the African-American Florida author.

[Amherst]: University of Massachusetts Press, [1972]. First Edition. Octavo (22cm). Cloth boards; dustjacket; 82pp. Light shelf wear to boards and jacket extremities, shallow crease to rear flap, else Very Good to Near Fine. Inscribed and signed by the author on half title: "For Cristoph / 'Open my face' / Ishmael Reed." First full-length poetry collection (following three novels) by… Read more about this item

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo. Quarter maroon cloth over yellow textured boards; dustjacket; maroon top-stain, 215pp. Fine condition. African-American author's third book, covering "poverty, drug addiction, prostitution, venereal disease, murder, bureaucratic indifference, race riots..." (upper jacket flap).

New York: I. Reed Books, 1979. First Edition. First Printing, a trade paperback original. Octavo (19.75cm); illustrated wrappers; 106,[2]pp. A Fine, unread copy. A pristine copy of this collection of brief satirical sketches for the stage.

[East St. Louis, IL: Black River Writers, 1971]. First Edition. First Printing. Slim 12mo (17.5cm.); publisher's white pictorial card wrappers; 64pp.; illus. and photographs throughout. Just a hint of toning to extremities, else Near Fine. Poetry collection by a former consultant of Katherine Dunham's at the Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Hicksville, NJ: Exposition Press, [1977]. First Edition. First Printing. Slim octavo (21cm.); publisher's cloth in pictorial dust jacket; 95pp. Very slightly ex-library with deaccession rubberstamp of Emory University to front pastedown, just a hint of shelf wear, else Very Good or better. African-American author's self-published novel, "The story of a lonely spinster who found love, after all..." At the… Read more about this item