“ Negro is a staggering accomplishment – in purpose, breadth of information, and size. Almost 8 pounds, 855 pages (12 inches by 10 inches), with 200 entries by 150 contributors (the majority, black) and nearly 400 illustrations, it was, and in many ways remains, unique – an encyclopaedic introduction to the history, social and political conditions, and cultural achievements of the black population throughout the world . . . It is one of the earliest examples of African American, cross-cultural, and transnational studies and a call to all civilised people to condemn racial discrimination and appreciate the great social and cultural achievements of a long- suffering people” (Gordon, p. 181). No publisher would accept the book, so Cunard had the book printed at her own expense and controlled every detail of the publication: “Negro would have to be printed exactly as she wished, bound in sepia-brown cloth with paper of a specific texture and colour (which had to be custom made), and its title, in red letters, would scroll diagonally from top left to bottom right. She would control every phase of its gestation and correct all final proofs” (Gordon, p. 163). “While Crowder later wrote that ‘the book has many very glaring faults, some of which I consider pitiful’, he praised the anthology privately – after all, it was dedicated to him. ‘The gratitude of the Negro race is yours,’ he wrote her. ‘Nancy you have done well. You have made the name Cunard stand for more than ships. Your deep sympathy for the Negro breathes through the pages.’ This marked a benedictory end to their turbulent, transformative relationship” (Young).
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“A strongly outspoken anti-Fascist, [Cunard] wanted to work with the French resistance, but was by chance in England at the time of the Nazi invasion. From London she began work for the Free French, serving as journalist and translator” (Benstock, p. 422). Cunard’s weighty anti-imperialist work “is considered a major contribution to the intellectual and cultural history of 20th century African diasporic history”. The 150 contributors to Cunard’s poetic-political work included: Louis Armstrong, Samuel Beckett, Norman Douglas, Theodore Dreiser, W. E. B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams. This copy includes the censored essay by René Crevel on unnumbered pages at pp. 581–83: “It is clear from her FBI file that spies in London reported to the United States on the preparation and publication of the Negro Anthology . The censors intervened and insisted that René Crevel’s ‘The negress in the Brothel,’ translated by Samuel Beckett, be removed from Negro . Undaunted, Cunard had the three pages set secretly by the radical Utopia Press and tipped them in while binding the volumes herself. The essay is not listed in the table of contents but is actually in the printed book – a reminder of her radical resourcefulness” (Marcus, p. 139). Crevel’s essay was omitted in Ford’s 1970 reprinting of the work. It is rarely found signed or inscribed; 1,000 copies of the work were printed, but a large number of unsold copies were destroyed in a warehouse fire during the Blitz. Quarto. Original black cloth, titles to spine and front board in red, map of the Black Belt of America on rear cover. Housed in a custom red cloth solander box. Illustrations throughout. A fresh, bright copy, remarkably clean and well preserved. ¶ Shari Benstock, Women of the Left Bank: Paris, 1900–1940 , 1986; Lois Gordon, Nancy Cunard: Heiress, Muse, Political Idealist , 2007; Mae Henderson, ed., Borders, Boundaries, and Frames: Essays in Cultural Criticism and Cultural , 1995; Jane Marcus, Hearts of Darkness: White Women Write Race , 2004; Kevin Young, “And I one of Them”, New York Review , 2 December 2021. £75,000 [155290] 33
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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