BLACK

The two signatures are on a reproduction of a drawing of Robeson, on a 15 x 11 cm piece of shiny art paper, cut from a programme from Robeson's 1934 tour of Britain. In good condition, lightly-aged. The head and shoulders portrait shows a moody Robeson in collar and tie. The two signature are at the foot of the image, with Robeson's, in blue ink, slanting downwards, and Brown's, in green ink, slanting upwards, around the line of Robeson's lapels.

116pp., 4to. (Paginated to 117, without a p.95, but with no text lacking.) No prelims. Each page typed on a separate leaf, and the whole bound together by string through punch holes. Text complete. Dog-eard and worn, with the first two leaves separated from the rest. No record discovered of author or title. The play is set during the Second World War, and begins: 'Afternoon fourclock ... Late spring ... side of road, North Cork district six miles from town of Kilneesh, Irishman trying to fix a tire ... car protruding from wings showing a flat.

Typescript with MS. additions, Pp. [1]-88, 4to, crudely bound with wire into a brown folder, chipped, with the ownership label on front as follows: "from the collection of Ernest J. Tyrrell London". Tyrrell starts with a connection between the Twist (danced by the Queen and Prince Philip) and Jim Crow's "vigorous and exhilarating dance", and its impact in England. He explains his modus operandi, organising disparate material about the life of T. D.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly-aged, and laid down on a piece of card. Reads: 'July 26 | My dear Faed, | Would you mind seconding me at the Athenaeum? I believe Tom Hughes has put down my name. | Yours faithfully | William Black.' According to Black's entry in the Oxford DNB, he 'studied landscape painting for a short time in the Glasgow School of Art, but, becoming connected with the Glasgow Citizen, gradually exchanged art for journalism'.

13pp., 8vo, paginated 41-53. Stapled, in brown printed wraps. On aged and worn paper, with rusted staples. Largely unopened. A learned exposition, with quotations in the original, beginning: 'It is now possible for me to supplement my Arabic text of Ali Baba by printing in full the only other original version so far known. I shall add some further information which I have gathered on the identity of the scribe of the Bodleian MS. and various notes on the text of that version.' No copy in the British Library, and a total of six copies on OCLC WorldCat and COPAC.

Black and white photographic print, 21 x 14 cm. Creased and stained, with short closed tear at head and slight loss to one corner. Robeson's inscription, in the bottom left-hand corner, reads: 'To "Dora" | With all good wishes and all good fortune. | Paul Robeson | "Show Boat" | London 1929'. The image is a head and shoulders shot of an assured Robeson in jacket, shirt and tie.

2pp., 12mo, on single leaf. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

43pp., 8vo. In good condition, on aged paper, with small label (with manuscript '7') on first page. In tasteful modern grey paper wraps with white printed label on front. Bell's presentation inscription, with the first line slightly trimmed at head, is on the title page: 'Lord Egerton | with the compliments of | Alexander Graham Bell' and '(Senate Document)'. Bell has also written, above the drop-head title (p.3): 'Suggestions by Alex. Graham Bell with regard to Defective Classes, Paper 31'. Bell's contribution, the longest in the volume, is on pp.31-37, with six tables in text.

These ten items were produced at the height of the surge of outrage with which the American left greeted the killing of four students by National Guardsmen at Kent State University, Ohio, on 4 May 1970. (As an example of the incident's wider cultural significance, see the song 'Ohio' by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.) Originating from New York, six of the items are dated from the end of the same month, and the other undated items date from the same period. All ten items are single leaves. Eight of them are 8vo, one is 21 x 18cm, and the other 35 x 21cm.

1p., 4to. Bifolium, addressed on the reverse of the second leaf to 'Messrs. Thomson Hankey <& Co> | Merchants | 7 Mincing Lane | London'. The second leaf is also docketed, and carries two circular postmarks, one from 'WEST BROMWICH'. Williams writes that he has returned to find 'an enquiry about the nails & chains'. He gives a price below which he cannot go, adding: 'I must be paid for the Casks: but if a quantity of nails had been wanted I would have given my trouble on the other things, as I should have made a profit on the nails'.

Nicely printed on thick watermarked laid paper, roughly 56 x 78 cm. Plate dimensions roughly 40.5 x 64 cm. Even creases from folding of map four times. Fair, with a little discoloration along folds and very slight wear and loss fold junctions. At foot of plate: 'The Scale is 96 Rods to One Inch.' Only two copies of this item located: the first, in the British Library Department of Maps describes it as showing 'existing and intended drainage systems. Engraving style and date suggests hand of Charles John Downes, engraver for maps accompanying Hasted's History of Kent'.

The four plates (each 29 x 23.5 cm) are loose and unframed, in fair condition, aged and worn, with no margins, chipping to the edges, and with the corners cut off at a diagonal. Each title written in pencil in a contemporary hand on the reverse of the print, each with a price of '6d'. The subjects are not depicted in unattractive style, and are certainly not grotesques, but they are shown as 'simple', untroubled individuals, with the usual happy, gleaming brown faces and shiny white teeth.

[4] + ii + 120pp., 8vo. In green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. With stamps and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. A scholarly work, the 35 sections subdivided into 'Historical', 'Growth by States', 'Present Conditions' and 'Conclusions', and with tables throughout. Scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copies on COPAC at the London Library and Cambridge.

[4] + ii + 120pp., 8vo. In green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. With stamps and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. A scholarly work, the 35 sections subdivided into 'Historical', 'Growth by States', 'Present Conditions' and 'Conclusions', and with tables throughout. Scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copies on COPAC at the London Library and Cambridge.

[2] + 66pp., 8vo. Stapled. With loose front and back covers of green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, with rusted staples and the two loose covers heavily chipped and worn. With labels, shelfmark and stamps of the Board of Education Reference Library. The first part is titled 'Results of the Investigation', and is in eight parts, including 'The Church', 'The Secret Society', 'Benficial and Insurance Societies' and 'Cooperative Business'. The second part includes 'Papers Submitted to the Conference' by H. H. Proctor, Dr H. R.

viii + 192pp., 8vo. In brown printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. Stamps and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. A scholarly work, with contributions by Dr J. G. Merrill, President of Fisk University, Henry N. Lee, of LeMoyne Institute, E. H. Holmes, of the Prairie View Normal School, Alexander Hamilton, Jr, of the firm of Hamilton & Son, Building Contractors, and W. T. B. Williams. Indexed and with three-page 'Bibliography of the Negro Artisan and the Industrial Training of Negroes' Uncommon: six copies on COPAC.

44pp., small 4to. Includes eight full-page tables, pp.36-44. Stapled. In grey printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. Stamps, shelfmark and label of the Board of Education Reference Library and the British Education Committee, Royal Commission, St. Louis Exhibition, 1904.

Six pages, 12mo, closely written, fold marks, good condition. "[...] on Obeah as practised in Demerara, I have exceedingly little information to give, having had but little personal contact with it and only knowing it as a thing much talked about and I believe, largely made use of by the black people. It is no uncommon thing for a person bearing ill will towards another to resort to an Obeah man in order that he may work them some harm.

Handbill, 21 x 34.5cm, fold marks, tiny closed tear, mainly good condition. Nichols had visited Canterbury for a meeting of the Archaeological Association and made an accurate copy of the Epitaph (correcting "errors in all the printed copies"), with further antiquarian chit-chat.

2pp., 12mo, bifolium. Very good, on lightly aged paper. The letter reads: 'Strawberry Hill is to the classic world much more important than the turmoil of everlasting Politics. It will be a little refreshing as a contrast to your readers to hear of Horace Walpole - the Inclosed is from Gallignani's Journal[.] in Paris they give a better attention to the Arts as well as the nuisance of everlasting Politics'. Postscript reads: 'Would you like to have a card to see'.

An important piece of British social history, this is an excessively scarce item, with no record whatsoever on Copac, WorldCat or the web. It derives from the papers of the anthropologist J. H. Driberg, whose wife Pearl Binder (later Lady Elwyn Jones) was a member of the Artists' International. It is a 4to pamphlet of 35 pp., of which 21pp. are in 4to, and 14pp. in smaller formats. Each page is mimeographed on one side of a leaf.

An albumen print, mounted on a piece of plain white card. Dimensions of print: 94 x 57 mm. Dimensions of card: 104 x 64 mm. Aged and faded. The card is entirely blank, apart from the date '1853' written at the head of the reverse. Clearly an early portrait of black people: if the date on the reverse is correct it pre-dates by a year the patenting of the carte to visite by Disdéri. The couple are seated side by side, gazing slightly to the right of the camera.

[1] + 7pp., foolscap 8vo. On eight leaves, stapled together in one corner. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with slight rust marking to title leaf. The title leaf reads: 'THE MAGDALEN STREET | PROJECT | Further information obtainable from: | THE CIVIC TRUST | 79 BUCKINGHAM PALACE ROAD | LONDON S.W.1. | TATe Gallery 0891'. The background to the experiment is explained in the first two paragraphs: 'This is the story of an experiment in civic design. It is also a story of civic co-operation in which self-help was seen to be synonymous with public spirit.

2pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. One minor manuscript emendation (see below). Dated at the head 'March 3rd. 1921' and addressed to 'Madam'.

1p., 4to. The first page only; 42 lines. Addressed to 'Dear Mr Lynd'. On aged and heavily-worn paper, with holes causing loss to a few words of text. An interesting document, written within days of the atrocity. The author - presumably the owner of Woodville, W. E. A.

Handbill, one page, crudely coloured border with images of a black troubadour with banjo[?] , a native American, and a trapper [?], 26 x 17cm, three stanzas each eight lines plus chorus, edges chipped, laid down on a larger page. Commences, "Oh! listen a while., a story I will tell; | It will please you to death, I know berry well [...]" Decorative border signed "E A Sparks" ("Printed within colored pictorial border (De Marsan trapper border J, in Wolf, E. Amer. song sheets)." One copy of this imprint listed by WorldCat, two of another imprint (later).

The full drophead title, beneath a headpiece of three lions in folliage, reads: The Gentleman's CONCERT. | BEING | A Choice Collection of Favourite SONGS. | Containing, | [following 10 lines in left-hand of two columns] 1. Where's my swain so blyth and clever | 2. To an arbour of woodbines. | 3. The flame of love sincere I felt. | 4. When all the Attic fire was fled. | 5. Cupid, god of pleasing anguish. | 6. As I walk'd forth, &c. | 7. O give me leave to love you dearly. | 8. When Fanny I saw as she trip'd, [sic] &c | 9. Bumpers 'Squire Jones. | 10. Sweet Annie.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Fair, on aged high-acidity paper. Drophead title, with the second part reading in its entirety: 'County Court Judge Bodkin, K.C., at the conclusion of the Ennis (County Clare) Quarter Sessions on February 5, 1921, made a grave statement as to the violence committed by the forces of the Crown in Ireland, in the following words: -'. The article reprints a report by Bodkin to the Rt Hon.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium, on ruled, laid paper. Fair: aged, with a 12.5 x 5 cm section cut away from the top of the first leaf, before the writing out of the poem. 63 lines, divided into six nine-line stanzas. The stanzas are numbered, and the poem is complete. The stanzas are numbered, and the poem is complete.

10 mimeographed pages, 4to (A4), small rust marks where staple used to be, (pages now detached), mainly good condition, discussing a newly founded organisation, with some church involvement, to stimulate Black participation in American society. Headings include: I. The Dark Backdrop; II. The Options; III. Project CN - Unique Approach (developing over thelast seventeen months!, including list of crisis points - Martin Luther's King's assassination, Tuskagee, support of workers groups, "Eastman Kodak encounter with FIGHT", etc); IV.