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Negro Anthology

Lot 43
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 11 340
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1016409
Lot 43 | Negro Anthology
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
Negro Anthology

Nancy Cunard

Nancy CUNARD (1896-1965, editor). Negro Anthology. London: Wishart & Co., 1934.



Association copy of the first edition of this monumental work. 'It was necessary to make this book - and I think in this manner, an Anthology of some 150 voices of both races - for recording of the struggles and achievements, the persecutions and the revolts against them, of the Negro people' (Foreword).



Ahead of its time, this anthology-manifesto passed relatively unnoticed at its time of publication, though today is recognised as a radical demonstration of anti-racist commitment. This work is distinguished from earlier anthologies by Alain Locke (1925) and Victor F. Calverton (1929) by its global and encyclopedic scope, supported by 'highly valuable documentation on every aspect of Negro life in America and Africa – on history, culture, sociology, and so on' (Wagner).



The articles, fiction, poems and illustrations included in this anthology are by recognizable contemporary voices, both black and white, such as Louis Armstrong, Samuel Beckett, Andre Breton, Langston Hugues, Zora Neale Hurston, Leo Frobenius, Theodore Dreiser, and Ezra Pound. Included are several pieces by Nancy Cunard, heiress of the Cunard transatlantic liners and the editor of the anthology, as well as transcriptions of several hate letters which she received after the press leaked her role in this project. The present lot is a notable association copy, bearing the ownership inscription of Emmanuel Taylor Gordon, an important musician associated with the Harlem Renaissance, as well as a later presentation inscription from him to 'Dr. Melville Charleton in memory of glorious days...'. Charleton is mentioned on page 358 of this work. Examples of this publication with associations of this type are rare. Jean Wagner, Black Poets of the United States: From Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes (1973).



Quarto. Folding map printed in red and blue, numerous photographic illustrations (three leaves toward the end torn vertically and repaired, small abraded patch to the front free endpaper, several notes in pen to endpapers). Original dark brown hessian boldly lettered in red on the upper cover and spine, and with a map showing 'The Black Belt of America?' stamped in red on the lower cover (top edge stained brown, bottom edge with faded lettering, board corners lightly rubbed). Provenance: Emmanuel Taylor Gordon (1893-1971, singer and performer associated with the Harlem Renaissance; inscribed on endpaper to:) – Melville Charleton (1880-1973, American organist).

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