Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence: The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time
New York: The Bookery Publishing Company, 1914. Very Good. Item #47016
New York: The Bookery Publishing Company, 1914. First Edition. Large octavo; publisher's red over green cloth, gilt-lettered spine, top edge gilt; 512pp.; portrait frontispiece of Frederick Douglass with tissue guard. Light wear to edges; spotting to front board; a few scuffs and smudges; binding sound and pages unmarked; a Very Good copy.
Quite substantial collection of Black speeches from Prince Saunders to W.E.B. Du Bois compiled by noted Louisiana essayist, poet, suffragist and activist Alice Dunbar Nelson (1875-1935). Published in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the editor notes the "grim eloquence" of the earlier entries and the difficulty of procuring speeches from the living, either due to their modesty, desire not to appear in print, or simply having lost them. She thanks John E. Bruce and Arthur A. Schomburg for lending priceless books and manuscripts for her to copy from. Notable for its inclusion of slightly lesser known figures such as Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and Fanny Jackson Coppin. Uncommon in retail. .
Price: $600.00