African literature
London, Faber & Faber Ltd, 1954.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s 6d.
First published in South Africa in 1946, Peter Abrahams' classic novel Mine Boy exposed South Africa's fledgling racial apartheid system and townships to the world - and its wisdom, vividness and political power endures to this day.
African literature
London, Heinemann, 1987.
First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original pale green boards. Dust-jacket, priced £10.95.
A fine inscribed first printing of Achebe's Booker Prize shortlisted work.
African literature
London, Heinemann, 1987.
Uncorrected proof copy. 8vo. Original printed wrappers.
A fine uncorrected proof of Achebe's Booker Prize shortlisted work.
African literature
London, Heinemann, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 13s6d.
A lovely first edition of this tale of Lagos corruption by Nigerian writer Achebe, the scarce second volume in Achebe's landmark 'African trilogy'.
African literature
London, Fourth Estate, 2006.
First edition. Signed by the author. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced £14.99.
Signed by the author on the title-page. This prize-winning novel tells the story of the Biafran War through the perspective of the characters Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard. Subsequently made into a film.
African literature
Ibadan, Mbari Publications, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Copyright stamp to verso of title. Original pictorial wrappers, barcode sticker to foot of spine.
The Nigerian author's first published book of poetry, scarce in such condition. Clark (1935 - 2020) played an important role in the evolution and dissemination of African literature, not least as the co-editor of the Pan-African magazine Black Orpheus.
African literature
Ibadan, Mbari Publications, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
The Nigerian author's first published dramatic work, scarce in such condition. Clark (1935 - 2020) played an important role in the evolution and dissemination of African literature, not least as the co-editor of the Pan-African magazine Black Orpheus.
African literature
London, Macgibbon & Kee, 1960.
First edition. 8vo. Original brown boards. Dust-jacket, priced 18s.
First edition by Nigerian/Jamaican author Dawes, a partly autobiographical account of a love affair with the Jamaican language and landscape that also interrogates the racial politics of the 1950s & 1960s, and the search for self in a world divided by class.
African literature
Introduction by Oliver Tambo. Edited by Ruth First
London, Heinemann, 1965.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket.
A very good first edition of Mandela's collected early writings, including his famous speech at the Rivonia Trial (1964). Distinctly uncommon, preceding his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom by almost thirty years.
African literature
and other stories
[Nigeria], Western Region, Ibadan, Ministry of Education, [1961].
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
The scarce second collection of stories by South African writer, educationalist, artist and activist Mphahlele, celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and considered one of the founding figures of modern African literature. The collection was printed in Nigeria, where Mphahlele had taken refuge in 1957, and features several of most important stories, including the title story and 'We'll Have Dinner at Eight'.
African literature
New York, Scribner's, 1935.
First edition. 8vo. Original cloth with pictorial onlays. Dust-jacket, priced $3.
The first book published by Prince Akiki Nyabongo of Toro, a Ugandan prince and an author, one of the first Ugandan authors to publish in the English language. Nyabongo was the editor-in-chief of The African Magazine, and studied in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early to mid-20th century, writing about African and European cultures, focusing on the relationship and contrasts between them. This work is probably his most famous, reissued in 1936 under the title Africa Answers Back.
African literature
London, Hutchinson, 1961.
First edition. 8vo. Original black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 16s.
The first novel by Nigerian author Onoura Nzekwu, later republished by Heinemann as part of the important African Writers Series. The novel has been compared to Achebe's No Longer at Ease.
African literature
A backvelder's scrap-book
London, Witherby, 1937.
First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A collection of tales relating to the Transvaal Bushveld, as recounted through the prism of fictional narrator Tante Rebella. Scarce in dust-jacket.
African literature
Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture FESTAC’77
Lagos, , 1977.
Oblong 4to; original cloth; dust-jacket.
The souvenir book of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.
African literature
Ibadan, Mbari Publications, 1964.
First edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.
Inspired by the songs and verse traditions of the author's native Ewe people, this marked the publishing debut of the Ghanaian poet and author Williams, also known as Kofi Awoonor. Uncommon in this condition.