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“The rebirth of the soul is perpetual; only rebirth every hour could stay the hand of Satan": First Edition of Go Tell It On the Mountain; inscribed by James Baldwin to his mother
BALDWIN, JAMES.
Go Tell It On The Mountain.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1953.
First edition of Baldwin’s first book. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by James Baldwin on the front free endpaper to his mother, “Mama from Rizzy from Jimmy – August 21st!” The recipient, Baldwin’s mother Emma Berdis Jones, left Baldwin’s biological father before moving to Harlem where Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924. When James was 3 years old, his mother married a Baptist preacher David Baldwin with whom she had eight children between 1927 and 1943. The family was poor, and Baldwin’s stepfather, to whom he referred in essays as his father, treated him more harshly than his other children. His intelligence, combined with the persecution he endured in his stepfather’s home, drove Baldwin to spend much of his time alone in libraries where he discovered his passion for writing at an early age. At the age of 13, he wrote his first article, titled “Harlem—Then and Now”, which was published in his school’s magazine, The Douglass Pilot. Baldwin and his mother remained close throughout his lifetime, she was an honorary guest at his 60th birthday celebration at UMass Amherst in August 1984. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket which has been restored and with the spine and front panel supplied in facsimile. Jacket drawing by John O’Hara Cosgrave. An exceptional association.
Price: $40,000.00 Item Number: 125755
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Rare De Witt Clinton High School Class of 1941 Yearbook; signed by James Baldwin as a graduating senoir
[BALDWIN, JAMES].
James Baldwin Signed De Witt Clinton High School Class of 1941 Yearbook.
Bronx, New York: Published by the Senior Class of De Witt Clinton High School June 1941.
Rare De Witt Clinton High School Class of 1941 Yearbook signed by James Baldwin as a graduating senior. Quarto, original cloth, pictorial endpapers, illustrated with photographs. Signed by James Baldwin to the right of his senior photograph of page 36, “James Baldwin.” His accolades read: JAMES A. BALDWIN “Baldy” Magpie Editorial Boards; Student Court. Novelist-Playwright. ‘Fame is the spur and – ouch!’ Additionally signed by dozens of other graduating seniors. With copies of the Commencement Exercises, List of Awards and Prizes and June 1941 ‘Class-Nite’ program laid in. In very good condition. Exceptionally rare, one of the earliest Baldwin autographs obtainable.
Price: $16,000.00 Item Number: 130241
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"My ally & friend, with the prayer that we'll keep on fighting. sooner or later, we'll win": First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son; Inscribed by Him to Civil Rights Advocate Morris Milgram
BALDWIN, JAMES.
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son.
New York: The Dial Press 1961.
First edition of Baldwin’s second major book of essays, featuring his powerful analyses of the politics of race and his controversial three-part essay on Richard Wright. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the dedication page, “For Morris Milgram: My ally & friend, with the prayer that we’ll keep on fighting. Jimmy B. -& sooner or later, we’ll win.” The recipient, Morris Milgram was a civil rights advocate and fair housing developer, who fought for integrated housing across the United States following World War II. In 1954, Milgram built the earliest racially integrated private housing community in the United States, Concord Park, in Trevose, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. The following year, in 1955, Milgram developed Greenbelt Knoll in the Holmesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, the first planned racially integrated community in the city. Greenbelt Knoll was designated an historic district by the Philadelphia Historic Commission in 2006 upon its 60th anniversary. In 1968, Milgram became the first recipient of the National Human Rights Award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In his lifetime Milgram was instrumental in developing and managing housing for some 20,000 people in the Philadelphia area, as well as in Boston, Chicago, California, and Virginia. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Robert Jonas. Photograph by Roy Hyrkin. An exceptional association linking Baldwin, one of America’s most incisive writers and Milgram, one of the leading civil rights advocate and fair housing developer, one of the finest possible.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 133249
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"Go the distance - in and out, and up and down": James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time; lengthily Signed by Him
BALDWIN, JAMES.
The Fire Next Time.
New York: The Dial Press 1963.
Early printing of one of the most influential works on race relations published in the twentieth century. Octavo, original cloth. Lengthily signed by the author on the dedication page, “Go the distance – in and out, and up and down. Jimmy Baldwin.” Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph by Mottke Weissman. Rare and desirable. Signed copies of The Fire Next Time are uncommon; those with such a lengthy inscription exceedingly so.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 145619
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First Edition of James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time; Inscribed by him
BALDWIN, JAMES.
The Fire Next Time.
New York: The Dial Press 1963.
First edition of one of the most influential works on race relations published in the twentieth century. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by the author on the title page, “Peace! James Baldwin.” Very good in a very good dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph by Mottke Weissman. Rare and desirable. Signed copies of The Fire Next Time are uncommon.
Price: $9,500.00 Item Number: 129331
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Rare uncorrected galley proof of James Baldwin's Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
BALDWIN, JAMES.
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone.
New York: The Dial Press, Inc. 1968.
Rare uncorrected galley proof of Baldwin’s fourth novel. Square quarto, original spiral bound wrappers. Signed by the author on the title page, “Peace James Baldwin.” In very good condition. Publication date annotated in ink on the front wrapper. Very uncommon signed.
Price: $9,500.00 Item Number: 140823
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First Edition of James Baldwin's Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone; Inscribed by Him to American journalist Leonard Lyons
BALDWIN, JAMES.
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone.
New York: The Dial Press 1968.
First edition of this major work by Baldwin. Octavo, original half cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “For Leonard Lyons: with much affection, and respect. Jim Baldwin.” The recipient, Leonard Lyons was a noted American newspaper columnist, best known for his New York Post column “The Lyons Den”, which appeared 6 days a week beginning in 1934 and covered theater, movies, politics and art. Baldwin was often featured in the column, most famously in an article published shortly after Martin Luther King’s assassination relating an incident in which Baldwin ran into Lyons on the street and remarked that we would “never again be able to wear the suit he wore to the King funeral.” Shortly after the article was published, Baldwin received a phone call from his best friend from junior high school who despaired that “he could not afford to have suits in his closet which he didn’t wear”. Baldwin then arranged to meet his childhood friend in Harlem where he gifted him the suit, an experience he later wrote about and was included in his collections ‘The Price of the Ticket’ and ‘No Name in the Street’. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. An exceptional association.
Price: $8,500.00 Item Number: 129588
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“You don’t have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back": First Edition of Giovanni's Room; Signed by James Baldwin
BALDWIN, JAMES.
Giovanni’s Room.
New York: The Dial Press 1956.
First edition of this landmark novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by James Baldwin on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch a shelfwear. Jacket design by Seymour Chwast. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional example.
Price: $7,800.00 Item Number: 140400
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“You don’t have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back": First Edition of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room; Signed by Him
BALDWIN, JAMES.
Giovanni’s Room.
New York: The Dial Press 1956.
First edition of this landmark novel. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by James Baldwin on the half-title page. Fine in a very good dust jacket with light rubbing and wear to the extremities. Jacket design by Seymour Chwast. Rare and desirable signed.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 81085
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First Edition of The Negro Protest; Signed by James Baldwin
BALDWIN, JAMES; MALCOLM X; MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
The Negro Protest.
Boston: The Beacon Press 1963.
First edition of this collection of interviews done by Kenneth B. Clark. Octavo, original half cloth. Boldly signed by James Baldwin on the half-title page. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. With a talk with Kenneth B. Clark and with a note about the interviews by Henry Morgenthau III. Bookplate.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 118239