Cloth a little softened at head of spine, but overall very good; jacket with minor wear to head of spine, small closed tear to head of lower panel, overall very good.
Armah (Ayi Kwei) The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
£395
Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $4.95.
First edition of the renowned debut novel by Ghanaian writer Armah, subsequently republished in the influential Heinemann African Writers Series in 1969. The novel tells the story of an unnamed man who struggles to reconcile himself with the reality of post-independence Ghana.
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"The steady development of Black Orpheus over the last seven years amounts to a remarkable achievement. It has succeeded in breaking the vicious circle that seems to inhibit the development of a proper reading public by its continued existence, by its very availability; more than that, it has also gone on to establish itself as one of the most important formative influences in modern African literature.…It can be said, without much exaggeration, that the founding of Black Orpheus, if it did not directly inspire new writing in English-speaking Africa, at least coincided with the first promptings of a new, modern, literary expression and re-inforced it by keeping before the potential writer the example of the achievements of the French-speaking and Negro American writers." (Abiola Irele, editor, Journal of Modern African Studies). The magazine ceased publication in 1975.


















