[Rarebooks] FS: Superb Association Copy of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EX-COLORED MAN, 1912

[Charles Agvent]

[JOHNSON, James Weldon]. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EX-COLORED MAN. Boston: 
Sherman, French & Co., 1912. First Edition. Original gilt-decorated 
cloth. Johnson's first book, a fictional autobiography that appeared 
anonymously and explored the issue of a black man passing for white in 
America, serving as a launchpad for many later novels exploring the 
question of what it means to be black in America. This self-published 
first printing fared poorly, accounting in large part for the book's 
notorious scarcity, and it did not reach a wide readership until the 
second edition was published in 1927 and Johnson claimed authorship. 
INSCRIBED and SIGNED in full by the author "To Mr. Hamilton Holt,/With 
the sincere admiration/and esteem of the author,/James W. Johnson./New 
York City,/Sept. 30, 1913." It was in New York four years earlier that 
Holt helped to found the National Association of the Advancement of 
Colored People (NAACP), which Johnson joined in 1917 and where he became 
in 1920 the first African American to be chosen as executive secretary 
of the organization, effectively the operating officer, a position he 
had until 1920. At the time of publication of this book Holt was 
proprietor and editor of the weekly INDEPENDENT. He was also one of this 
country's foremost internationalists, founding the World Federation 
League and serving as president of the American Peace Congress and 
director of the World Peace Foundation before spending years promoting 
the League of Nations. After an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 
Connecticut, Holt accepted the presidency of Rollins College in Florida. 
Blockson's 101 Influential Books: #56. Holt's bookplate on the front 
pastedown with a modern postage stamp honoring Johnson. Some spotting 
and discoloration to the scarlet cloth, mostly on the spine and at the 
rear with minor fraying at the head of the spine. Still a Very Good copy 
and exceptionally scarce when signed. (#010722) $15,000.00

https://www.charlesagvent.com/shop/agvent/010722.html

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