Code Name "Zorro": The Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Uncorrected proof. Signed by Dick Gregory on the verso of the front wrap with the inscription, "To You." [iv], 308 pp. Bound in publisher's blue wraps with black tape binding, "Uncorrected Manuscript" written on front wrap in red ink. Very Good, two staples in front wrap (presumably once holding review information),a few nicks to taped spine, occasional proofreaders' notes in black ink and marker (causing bleed-through), with some previous edits photocopied. Quite rare in this format, especially signed. Lawyer and author Mark Lane teamed up with Black comedian and activist Dick Gregory for this critical examination of Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis in 1968. Gregory's contributions to the book are generally more poetic and personal than Lane's. Some of the editorial deletions and alterations are interesting to students of the MLK case; for instance, on p. 118 a number of Gregory's lines about "a local militant group called the Invaders" are blacked out. A leader of this group (widely believed to be agents provocateur) was Marrell McCollough, a Black undercover police officer infiltrating them who would go on to work for the CIA-- if indeed his service to them had not already started. He would be with King in his final moments, holding towels to King's chest to staunch the bleeding in a famous photo of the scene taken by Joseph Louw.…