HUGHES, Langston (1901-1967). Famous American Negroes. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1954.

Square 8vo. Photographic illustrations. Original orange cloth (some toning to endleaves). Provenance: William P. and Alice D. Mahoney (presentation inscription, bookplate); by descent to present owner.

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY HUGHES: "Especially for the Mahoneys – these true stories. Sincerely, Langston. New York January 22, 1954.”

Langston Hughes’s “main task of the summer of 1953…was probably to complete the collection of biographical essays ‘Famous American Negroes,’ which Langston presented to Dodd, Mead early in September. What started as a routine ‘juvenile’ job became a source of pain and distress when his editors there suggested—indeed, demanded—several cuts. The excisions removed almost all accounts of incidents of overt racism from the text” affecting the entries for Paul Laurence Dunbar, Charles C. Spaulding, Robert Abbott, George Washington Carver, Ralph Bunche, and A. Philip Randolph (Rampersad, Life, Vol. II, p.29). By January of 1954, Hughes was working on several books for small children, including The First Book of Rhythms and The First Book of Jazz (see lot 231).

Fine African Americana from the Collections of Noël Sullivan & William P. and Alice D. Mahoney

HUGHES, Langston (1901-1967). Famous American Negroes. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1954.