(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929), third edition, small octavo (7.75 in.), 89 pages, lavender cloth with title and author's name in gilt on cover and spine; the front free endpaper inscribed "For Charlotte Hawkins Brown, my Negro songs and poems - Sincerely, Langston Hughes Dec. 7, 1931."

Two prominent African-Americans come together in this rare and important historical artifact from the depths of the Jim Crow era. Langston Hughes, the celebrated poet of the Harlem Renaissance, here inscribes a collection of his work to educator Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, founder and administrator of the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina. This private preparatory school would educate black students into the 1970s and is currently honored with a highway historical marker on US Route 70 in Guilford County.

Sunning to spine and periphery; tight binding; pages lightly toned, the second front endpaper with 1.75 in. split from bottom edge; the inscription bold and clear.

$400 - 800