Laughing To Keep From Crying [Inscribed Presentation Copy, to Marion Palfi]

[AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & LITERATURE] HUGHES, Langston

Published by Henry Holt, New York, 1952

First printing. Inscribed on front endpaper: "For Marion / with continued good wishes ever," signed "Langston," dated March 10, 1952. Octavo; pale blue linen over black cloth, titled in lavender on spine; dustjacket; 206pp. Board corners just touched; mild darkening to endpapers at gutters; still a tight, Near Fine copy. In the original dustwrapper, unclipped (priced $2.75 on front flap), sunned at spine and edges, moderate rubbing, but still complete; just about Very Good. A late volume of short stories exploring the "subtleties of interracial behavior seldom revealed in fiction" (from jacket copy). Though her surname is not included in the inscription, the presentation is to the German-American documentary photographer Marion Palfi, from whose library the book was acquired. Though no longer a household name, Palfi (1907-1978) was one of the foremost chroniclers of the early Civil Rights movement. She spent the years immediately following WW2 traveling the American South, documenting poverty and social injustice; she was the first photojournalist to arrive in Greenwood, Mississippi during that town's civil rights protests, and the first issue of Ebony magazine featured one of her photographs on its cover. Palfi and Hughes likely became acquainted while she was at work on her landmark collection of portraits, "Great American Artists of Minority Groups" in 1945. DICKINSON 21. Seller Inventory # 80573

Bibliographic Details

Title: Laughing To Keep From Crying [Inscribed ...
Publisher: Henry Holt, New York
Publication Date: 1952
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: First Edition.