American Literature
An essay toward an autobiography of a race concept
New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1940.
First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $3.00.
An important work, regarded in part as one of the first scientific treatises in the field of American sociology. The title refers to his hope that African Americans were passing out of the darkness of racism into an era of greater equality.
American Literature
The Negroes in the Making of America
Boston, Mass., The Stratford Co., 1924.
First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt.
An important work by the American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist Du Bois, highlighting the unique contributions of African-Americans in building the United States.
American Literature
London, John Long, 1923.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original green cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
A rather stunning first UK of this famous account of Missouri life. Although Croy was primarily a humorist, this is a serious, realistic novel in the vein of Theodore Dreiser and Thomas Hardy.
American Literature
London, Calder, 1964.
First edition. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced 42s.
The first UK edition of this famous counter-culture tale of an addict-hustler who travels to Mexico and then Tangier in order to find easy access to drugs, and ends up in the 'Interzone', a bizarre fantasy world.
American Literature
Paris, The Olympia Press, 1959.
First edition, first issue with original price of "Francs 1.500" on the back wrapper. 8vo. Original publisher's stiff green wrappers.
The first edition of Beat Generation Burroughs' most famous work, banned in the UK and USA at the time.
American Literature
London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1926.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An uncommon first UK edition of this tale, boldly announcing on the jacket 'this entertaining story of the Sunny South'. Colver was a prolific author, best remembered today perhaps for her Joan Foster series.
American Literature
London, Gollancz, 1954.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 12/6.
A surprisingly uncommon De Vries edition.
American Literature
London, Constable, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth stamped in yellow. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
The first UK edition of the second in Dos Passos's 'USA Trilogy', in which he evaluates the damage done by World War I. Nineteen Nineteen focuses on the fear and social unrest on the home front.
American Literature
London, Heinemann, 1931.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7s6d.
The first UK edition of this tale of Polish immigrant workers in New England which weaves a complex social history of the period, commencing with the stock market crash of 1929. Ferber is best known today perhaps as the author of Show Boat and Giant.
American Literature
London, Chatto & Windus, 1951.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.
The US author's debut novel, and the most well regarded and critically acclaimed of his works, winner of the 1967 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel.
American Literature
London, Cape, 1932.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 15s.
Hemingway's famous work on the art of bull-fighting, illustrated with over eighty illustrations from photographs and paintings.
American Literature
New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
First edition, first printing. 8vo. Original black cloth lettered in gilt. Dust-jacket, priced $11.00.
The first edition of the first book in the 'Border trilogy' by the recently deceased Cormac McCarthy, a best-selling work that was adapted into a 2000 film starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz, directed by Billy Bob Thornton.
American Literature
London, Arthur Barker, 1935.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original decorative cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.
The first UK edition of McCoy's disturbingly titled Great Depression era classic, adapted for film by Sydney Pollack in 1969.
American Literature
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1924.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
An excellent jacket on this "... vivid story, dealing with a curious racial problem." (jacket) - set in Hawaii.
American Literature
A cycle of the Southern Hills
London, Methuen, 1930.
First UK edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.
The first UK edition of an important work on the Appalachians, a series of dialect sketches focusing on a single Southern community that was praised for its realism. The author, who co-created the 1920s little magazine The Modern Review, died in a car accident in 1931, after attending a 'bootlegger' near Cherokee. Scarce especially in a jacket.
American Literature
London, Faber and Faber Limited, 1933.
First UK edition of the author's first novel. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, clipped but with price 3/6 present.
The author's first novel, set in Cuba and charting the experiences of a Spanish emigree making a life for himself in the 'new world'. Compared (by the publishers at least) to Thornton Wilder's Bridge of San Luis Rey.