Black Boy by Richard Wright, Signed (6 results)

Hardcover. Octavo, 419 pages. In Very Good minus condition with a Very Good minus condition dust jacket. Spine is blue and gold with white and black lettering. Dust jacket protected by mylar covering, price uncut: "24.95" on front flap, and has mild bumping to head forecorners, mild soiling and age toning along rear cover, and mild shelving wear along spine head and tail. Text block mildly foxed along head and fore edges, mildly scuffed along tail edge. Signed flat by Edward P. Jones on title page. Shelved in Rm. C. 1395623. Special Collections. 60th Anniversary Edition, First Printing.

Cloth. Condition: Near fine. Dust Jacket Condition: very good. Signed copy of Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth by Richard Wright, the tenth edition, published in 1945. (illustrator). Tenth Edition. Octavo, [8], 228pp, [5]. Black cloth, title in gilt on spine. Stated "Tenth Edition August 1945" on copyright page. This tenth edition was printed the same year of original publication, 1945. Solid text block, lightly bumped corners, a near fine example. In the publisher's dust jacket, $2.50 retail price on front flap, chips and short closed tears to edges. Rubbing and wear along edges, a very good example. Signed by Richard Wright on the front free endpaper. Black Boy is an autobiography describing Richard Wright's early years. Wright grew up in the early 1900s South, moving from Mississippi to Arkansas to Tennessee. Eventually he moved to Chicago to begin his writing career. Wright also describes his early involvement with the Communist Party. Signed.

Paperback. Early Printing of the French Edition. 5.5 x 7.75in. 264pp. Publisher's wraps with original glassine covering. Signed and inscribed by the author on the front endpaper: 'To Mlle. Renee Godin, With my best wishes, sincerely yours, Richard Wright. Feb. 15, 1952. Paris.' Signed by Wright during his last years in Paris. VERY GOOD. Shows marginal thumbing of the edges, several spine creases from reading and resultant split of the lower quarter of the wrap hinges but holding very tightly, otherwise the binding is strong and tight, the text is clean and unmarked, and the wraps remain bright and distinct. As pictured.

Couverture souple. Condition: Très bon. 1ère édition. In-8, broché, couverture bleu clair imprimée en rouge et noir, 264 pp., 2 ff. n. ch. Edition originale française de ce roman autobiographique narrant l'enfance de l'auteur. Un des 110 exemplaires numérotés sur vélin pur fil Lafuma-Navarre, seul grand papier. Envoi autographe signé de l'auteur : "Sincerely yours / Richard Wright". Traduit de l'américain par Marcel Duhamel en collaboration avec Andrée R. Picard. Bel exemplaire, non coupé. Rare exemplaire en grand papier comprenant un envoi de Richard Wright. Récit autobiographique écrit en 1945, narrant l'enfance de l'auteur dans le sud ségrégationniste, Black boy est, avec Native Son, un des chef-d'oeuvres de la littérature noire américaine. Signé par l'auteur. Livre d'occasion.

First French Edition. First Impression, a review copy, with S.P. printed at upper left corner of rear wrapper. Octavo (20.75cm); original printed wrappers and publisher's glassine overlay; [13],14-264,[4]pp. Inscribed by Wright on the half-title page to French philosopher and intellectual Maurice Merleau-Ponty, above a brief inscription by translator Marcel Duhamel. Slight forward lean, some light wear and handling, with a tiny chip to base of spine, and the usual tanning to text edges, with some tiny nicks and tears to same; Very Good in a Very Good+ glassine. Wright's fourth book, a moving and shocking autobiography of race relations, growing up in the South, and his eventual move to Chicago at age 19, where he established his writing career and became involved with the Communist Party. He moved to Paris in 1946, and became a French citizen the following year. While there he befriended fellow expatriate writers James Baldwin and Chester Himes, and was drawn to existentialism after becoming involved with its primary exponents: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Their influence on his writing was especially evident in his 1953 novel The Outsider, which "speaks from an existential framework about the oppression of black people and the resulting violence and crime - something no black writer had tried to do before" (Karny, Roger. "Existentialism from an African-American Perspective." Philsophy Now: A Magazine of Ideas, 2021). While Wright signed and inscribed books liberally during his years in France, association copies of real significance are uncommon. BLOCKSON 4801. Signed.

30 page typescript. 4to. Condition: Blue wrappers. Very Good. 30 page typescript. 4to. Signed in red pencil on the upper wrapper "' Black Boy' adapted for a documentary film by Tony Petrina.". Signed.