Product Type
Condition
Binding
Collectible Attributes
Seller Location
Seller Rating
Published by The Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts, Inc, Cambria Heights, NY, 1975
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
First Edition
First Edition. Octavo (23cm); orange card wrappers, printed in black; 128,[4]pp; illus. Light wear to extremities, small library shelf label to base of spine, else clean throughout, with no markings in text; Very Good+. The first musicological journal on the study of Black music. "The Black Perspective in Music is committed to the publication of news from all over the world about black musicians and their music. The immediate goals of the journal are few and, hopefully, realistic. It seeks to become a source of current history of Afro-American and African music and to provide information periodically about the past of this music. It seeks to improve the conditions for the performance, publication, and recording of an important area of American and African music that hitherto has not received its due share of attention" (Vol.1, No.1, p.3). The journal was edited by Eileen Jackson Southern (1920-2002), an African-American pianist and musicologist, and the first African-American to receive a PhD in musicology from an American institution (NYU, 1961). While known for its serious dedication to scholarship and accuracy, BPIM had a fairly low circulation rate during it's first few years (200-300 subscribers), reaching 1,000 subscribers at the ten year mark. DANKY 962.
Published by The Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts, Inc, Cambria Heights, NY, 1975
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
First Edition
First Edition. Octavo (23cm); orange card wrappers, printed in black; 240pp; illus. Light wear to extremities, small library shelf label to base of spine, else clean throughout, with no markings in text; Very Good+. The first musicological journal on the study of Black music. "The Black Perspective in Music is committed to the publication of news from all over the world about black musicians and their music. The immediate goals of the journal are few and, hopefully, realistic. It seeks to become a source of current history of Afro-American and African music and to provide information periodically about the past of this music. It seeks to improve the conditions for the performance, publication, and recording of an important area of American and African music that hitherto has not received its due share of attention" (Vol.1, No.1, p.3). The journal was edited by Eileen Jackson Southern (1920-2002), an African-American pianist and musicologist, and the first African-American to receive a PhD in musicology from an American institution (NYU, 1961). While known for its serious dedication to scholarship and accuracy, BPIM had a fairly low circulation rate during it's first few years (200-300 subscribers), reaching 1,000 subscribers at the ten year mark. DANKY 962.
Published by Hurok Attractions, Inc., Hurok Artists, Inc., 1947]., [New York:, 1947
Seller: Zephyr Used & Rare Books, Vancouver, WA, U.S.A.
First Edition
4to. [16 pp (unpaginated).], w/ photo illustrations & plates. Self-printed colour-illustrated softcovers (minor shelfwear, very slight creasing to 1 corner), still VG copy, w/ 4to.[2 pp.] broadside for Feb. 25, 1948 Long Beach Greater Artist Series. First edition of this well-illustrated theatre brochure for the famed African-American singer, who was an important figure for black artists overcoming segregation and prejudice in the 20th Century. Most famously denied by the Daughters of the American Revolution to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall, she would later perform an Easter Sunday concert April 9, 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with the assistance of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and President Roosevelt.
Published by Detroit, 1952
Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Broadside, 14 x 11 inches. Minor dust-soiling, rubbing, and toning. Very good. A delightful pictorial broadside advertising a Methodist church concert in Detroit on September 12, 1952. Photographs include portraits of the choir director, Marvin Dupre; the narrator, Rev. Poole; and twenty- seven members of the co-ed Dupre Victorian Choir ranged in a V-shape in two rows. The Scott Methodist Church was founded in 1909, and was the first African-American Methodist Episcopal Church in Michigan. The church still exists today as the Scott Memorial United Methodist Church.
Published by W.C. Fields, Montgomery, AL, 1950
Seller: Bartleby's Books, ABAA, Chevy Chase, MD, U.S.A.
Broadside poster, 16 x 11 inches, employing several sizes of type, to three-quarter inch bold capitals. The only reference we could find for the Tarnadoes was an online undated recording of their "Neck Bones & Hot Sauce." Randy's Record Shop operated in Gallatin 1946-1991, billing itself the World's Largest Mail-Order Record Company. Not recorded on OCLC. Printed on cream card stock (uniformly toned, top and bottom margins trimmed), a little storage soiling, but very good.
Published by 0
Seller: Peter Austern & Co. / Brooklyn Books, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Association Member: ESA
No Binding. Condition: Good. Publication date 1858. 'THE BALLAD of KITTY WELLS' --rare copy of a Civil War-era LOVE SONG-- handwritten on Union stationary. This rendition of 'Kitty Wells' has lyrics attributed to Thomas Sloan, Jr., music by Charles Atherton. 'The Ballad of Kitty Wells' is in the collection of American Song Sheets, Library of Congress Rare Books and Special Collections. NICELY PRESENTED --MATTED & FRAMED in SILVER METAL-- the item measures 16"x 22.5"-- a thoughtful, careful display of the fragile song sheet. 'The Ballad of Kitty Wells' is a Civil War-era song of 'lost love'-- a Black man grieves her death while remembering life with his beloved Kitty Wells. Tremendously popular as a minstrel song in 19th century American popular music, the song may perhaps have had English origins. 'When the birds were singing in the morning/ and the myrtle and the ivy were in bloom/ and the sun on the hilltops was a dawning/ twas there we laid her in the tomb.'/ 'But death came in my cabin door/ and stole from me my joy my pride/ and when I heard she was no more/ I laid my banjo down and cried'. Undated song-lyrics were handwritten on stationary stamped with a Union logo. Framed presentation is matted to showcase 3 separate items: the original lyrics; a typed-transcription of the lyrics; and a Civil War-era envelope stamped with a Union logo. 'The Ballad of Kitty Wells' is 5 verses, complete: the first (3) verses are shown; and the last (2) verses were wrapped beneath the song-sheet. Domestic s&h $35. Book.
Published by [Nashville, Tn, 1944
Seller: William Reese Company - Americana, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
[16]pp., including illustration. Original self-wrappers, printed on four folded sheets, stapled. Light soiling, rubbing, and edge wear. Very good. Program for the fifteenth annual Festival of Music and Fine Arts, held over four days at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, from April 19-22, 1944. According to the program foreword, the year's festival was organized around the theme of "Educating for the World Community" in part as "an attempt to understand the mechanical, social, artistic and religious bases of the World Community and to prepare students more effectively to meet the needs of our time." It was held that year in dedication to the memory of Robert Ezra Park, a sociologist and professor at Fisk University who had died two months before on February 7, 1944. The program contains a calendar of each day's events, which included seminar lectures, musical performances, a concert featuring tenor Roland Hayes, art exhibits, a stage production of the 17th-century opera Dido and Aeneas, a dance recital, a folk festival of world dance presented by Fisk's physical education department, and a concert by the Fisk University Choir. Included throughout are the names of the festival's various speakers, participants, and performers, including Rockwell Kent, who delivered the comment on an exhibition of his work.
Published by San Francisco, 1984
Seller: Auger Down Books, ABAA/ILAB, Marlboro, VT, U.S.A.
Art / Print / Poster First Edition
Condition: Fine. A poster designed for a Juneteenth musical celebration and parade in San Francisco in 1984 featuring a portrait of Isom Dart, characterized on the poster as "Outlaw, Gunfighter, Gang Leader, Cattlerustler, Community Protector." The eight participating bands include the Johnny Hartsman Blues Band, Demons of the Mind, Mystic Youth & I Skeeda, All the Kings Men, The Champion Band, Stellar, Imani, and the Galaxy Show Band. The event, promoted as an "Emancipation Celebration," spanned two weekend days in June at the San Francisco Rodeo. The poster indicates partial funding from the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund. Isom (or Isam) Dart (1858-1900) was a prominent Black cowboy in the American West, embodying various roles such as ranch hand, bronco buster, horse thief, and vigilante. Born on a farm in Seguin, Texas, Dart worked at the renowned Goodnight Ranch, engaged in cattle drives to Wyoming, and met his demise on October 3, 1900, near Browns Peak during the Colorado Range Wars. The circumstances of Dart's death, with suspicions pointing to the involvement of famed scout detective Tom Horn, add complexity to his legacy. It is unclear whether this concert featured any western or rodeo content besides the title and graphic design of the poster, though the celebration of Juneteenth and the use of Isom's imagery are notable. Poster measuring 23 x 17.5 inches. Fine condition.
Published by Tuskegee, 1930
Seller: Auger Down Books, ABAA/ILAB, Marlboro, VT, U.S.A.
First Edition
Condition: Very Good. A pair of photographs from the prolific photographer Prentice H. Polk of a band led by Allen Moton, the son of Dr. Robert Moton, the president of Tuskegee University. Moton was, among other things, an acquaintance of Ralph Ellison's at Tuskegee, and may have been the inspiration for the car ride in Invisible Man, as Ellison recounted a particularly harrowing drive with Moton in his father's Cadillac with the pianist Hazel Harrison, in which Moton was trying to impress Hazelton with his knowledge of philosophy. According to an article in the Tuskegee Herald in 1956, Moton also played with Teddy Wilson at Tuskegee before Wilson joined Benny Goodman's band. The larger photograph has several of the band members identified in ink on the verso, as Allen Moton, Morris, Lollypop, Baker, Robert (likely Moton, also a musician), and Crosby. We find no record of the band besides the photograph, leaving the possibility open that "Moton's Sharps and Flats" was not the name under which they performed. Works cited: Gebhart, Caroline. Ghosts of Tuskegee. In: Devlin, Paul (editor). Ralph Ellison in Context. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pair of silver gelatin prints measuring 9 ½ x 7 â and 7 x 5 inches. Residue to versos from removal from scrapbook, tear and crease to larger image, very good contrast.
Published by Benjamin W. Hitchcock, New York, 1880
Seller: Auger Down Books, ABAA/ILAB, Marlboro, VT, U.S.A.
Sheet Music
A scarce and possibly a first printing of James A. Bland's "In the Evening by the Moonlight," published as part of the Great Ethiopian Songs series by Hitchcock's Music Store on Sixth Avenue in New York City. H.J. Weyman and the Popular Music Company also published editions of the song, one with a slight title variation, in 1880, both in New York City. The song would become one of the most famous of the seven hundred or so that Bland would eventually write, and be performed by Nina Simone into the twentieth century. We find four copies in OCLC, along with two copies of the other 1880 editions. Sheet music measuring 11 x 14 inches. 6 pp. With illustrated folio cover with Bland's likeness and a stereotypical illustration of African-Americans at church. Fine condition.