The First Book of Africa.
New York: Franklin Watts, 1960.
8vo, 82 pp. Illustrated with photographs. Publisher's beige cloth lettered in black; unclipped illustrated dust-jacket priced $1.95. A near fine copy, lightly age-toned, in a very good dust jacket, faded, lightly edge-worn and with a 1cm chip to the foot of the spine panel.
§ First edition, first printing, inscribed "For Bill Sincerely Langston Hughes, New York, Jan 25, 1961". A very nice copy of Langston Hughes' children's book inscribed to the son of his friend the poet Muriel Rukeyser. The title was the last of five books Hughes wrote for Franklin Watt's "First Book" series, which set out to provide high-quality, non-patronizing, and up-to-date education for younger readers. As with his other contributions (The First Book of Negroes, The First Book of Jazz, The First Book of Rhythms, and The First Book of the West Indies), Hughes succeeded admirably with a substantive introduction to the past and present of Africa that does not shy away from the history of colonialism or the challenges faced by the newly independent nations. Provenance: the Rukeyser family. Item #127171
Price: $2,750.00