1 ACKER, Kathy. The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula. [San Diego, California: Community Congress Press,] June – September 1973 “i have become a murderess by repeating in words the lives of other murderesses” A rare complete set of Acker’s first novel, self-published in parts and mailed to whomever she thought might take notice. It successfully enshrined her reputation in the art and avant- garde literary worlds. We have located only seven instances of the complete run in institutional holdings, all in the US. The Childlike Life juxtaposes fictionalized and fragmented autobiographical scenes with plagiarized literary excerpts, creating “a completely new type of narrative which still, years later, feels mind-blowingly experimental” (Fedorova). Although essentially plotless, it consists of several fantasies based on books Acker had read, ostensibly written by The Black Tarantula, Acker’s pseudonym. An American punk poet who lived most of her life in London, Acker never felt entirely at home on the wrong side of the Atlantic. The popularity of her image – the iconic bleach blonde crop and muscular, tattooed back – has often obscured her cult-writer status, and her own deliberate fictionalizations of her life, repeating and reinventing her histories, have made Acker a myth that biographers have struggled to approach. Six volumes, octavo. Original wire-stitched white and light brown wrappers, front wrapper of No. 3 lettered in black, No. 6 printed in blue. Lightly pencilled titles to front wrappers of Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5. A little toned at edges with a few marks to wrappers, No. 1 lightly
creased; a near-fine set. ¶ Anastasiia Fedorova, “The Power of Cult Feminist Writer Kathy Acker”, ID Magazine , 24 August 2017. £4,000 [148879] 2 AI DAO WOMEN’S BIBLE SCHOOL. Legends of Ancient China. Chefoo [Yantai]: Self-help Department, Women’s Bible School, Presbyterian Mission, [c.1930] A pretty album, retaining the frequently discarded explanatory sheet, handmade by Chinese students at the Ai Dao Women’s Bible School attached to the American Presbyterian Mission in Chefoo. Throughout the 1930s, the school produced various themed papercut collections to raise funds, all of which are now uncommon; we have traced no copies of this collection in UK institutions. The education of women became a priority for social reformers in the wake of the May Fourth Movement, and schools like Ai Dao were at the forefront of this revolution in education. Landscape octavo (183 × 230 mm), ff. [8]. Original decorative silk brocade, black thread xianzhuang stitching, edges untrimmed. Explanatory sheet loosely inserted as issued. Papercut showing rural Chinese scene mounted on title page, 7 similar papercuts with captioned glassine guards. Brocade bright, internally clean, a little creasing to glassine guards and explanatory sheet. A fine copy. £750 [155035]
3
3 ANDERSON, Marian – ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA. Autograph album presented to Marian Anderson. Philadelphia: 4 June 1938 “phyllis wheatley, harriet tubman and sojourner truth hoped . . . but you dear marian carry on” An album amicorum gifted to celebrated contralto Marian Anderson by her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Greek- letter organization established by African American women and one of the major backers of Anderson’s Easter Sunday concert in 1939. It was compiled on the occasion of an AKA dinner given in Anderson’s honour, and at which she sang, on 4 June 1938.
The 47 entries inscribed to “Soror Anderson” are full of warmth and admiration, celebrating her influence and achievements in both opera and the fight for racial equality. The longest entries are by Ida L. Byrd and Mamie E. Davis. The former writes: “It is given to few people to become legends while they live, but you dear Soror have accomplished even this because your Sorors and all the Negro people to-day hold you in their hearts as a legend to be loved and cherished. Your triumphs are their triumphs, and your laurels are their laurels; your grace and simplicity are for your whole people an unmatched diadem. Phyllis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth hoped and profesied [ sic ] for their race, but you dear Marian carry on; you achieve for your people! Sisterly yours”. Davis closes out the album by saying, “every time I hear you I feel I have participated in a ‘High Occasion’, every time I read words of praise for you, I see the racial barriers broken down one by one. Excellence will do more to make us all one race, you are doing your share”. Oblong duodecimo (114 × 150 mm). Contemporary tan skiver commercial autograph album, smooth unlettered spine, front cover lettered and blocked in gilt, cream moire silk endpapers, green silk Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) crest clipped and pasted onto front free endpaper, pale yellow, green, blue, and pink paper stock, of which 48 pp. inscribed in ink in different hands (mostly to rectos, some versos). With 4 illustrative clippings pasted in: a brief history of the sorority on front free endpaper verso; a captioned printed photograph of Ethel Hedgeman Lyle opposite her entry; a signed original photograph of Ida L. Byrd opposite her entry; and lyrics to “The Ivy” on both final blanks; verso of the clippings printing the AKA Directorate. Thin paper-backed skiver covers sometime cleanly separated from boards, front preserved and expertly tipped-on, rear since lost; contents bright and clean. Internally very good, the binding itself fragile. £2,500 [161178]
1
2
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
3
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker