Color

Early printing (publisher's code "F-A" = June, 1926). Small octavo. 108pp. Quarter yellow cloth and black patterned paper-covered boards with printed cream paper labels. Small bookseller label on the rear paste-down, near fine in near fine dustwrapper with a small owner name stamp on the front flap, sunning mostly on the spine, and very light wear. Cullen's first book of poetry, published when he was just 21. The poems deal lyrically and often explicitly with issues of race, and include such definitive works of the Harlem Renaissance as "Heritage," "Atlantic City Waiter" and "The Shroud of Color." Many in this collection are "by far his best . full of a youthful and exploratory spirit" (*Perry* 1, p. 65). A very nice copy of the author's first book in the fragile jacket.