The Book of American Negro Spirituals - photo 1
The Book of American Negro Spirituals - photo 2

The Book of American Negro Spirituals

Lot 386
29.09.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 4 032
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1029037
Lot 386 | The Book of American Negro Spirituals
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
James Weldon JOHNSON (1871-1938). The Book of American Negro Spirituals. New York: Viking, 1925.

George Gershwin's copy of a Harlem Renaissance classic: first edition, inscribed by the author: ‘To Mr. George Gershwin Very sincerely, James Weldon Johnson Nov. 22 1925’. As a poet, novelist, lawyer and lyricist, Johnson was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance and a civil rights activist who later became an executive officer of the NAACP. Johnson and Gershwin knew each other well and Gershwin had shared some of the score for Porgy and Bess whilst the work was in progress. Johnson’s inscription is dated barely a month after the book won high praise in the New York Times (18 October 1925) and only a few months after Gershwin was featured on the cover of Time (20 July 1925).

Quarto. 68 leaves of musical arrangements by J. Rosamond Johnson and Lawrence Brown (occasional faint finger-soiling, title creased at corner, a couple of minor tears). Original brown cloth, titles to spine and upper board stamped in brown, upper board with vignette stamped in blue and brown (extremities rubbed, foot of upper joint just starting, lightly marked and stained); housed in modern brown quarter morocco box. Provenance: George Gershwin (1898-1937; authorial presentation inscription to title).

Please note that this is an historical artefact. Some of its language and terminology, which reflects the context and culture of the time of its creation, is now considered outdated and culturally offensive; its contents may be at odds with contemporary views.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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