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An appealing cache of works owned and annotated by Dee and Davis, one of the most revered couples of the American stage. Three of the books are scholarly works on race by Black authors published in the midst of the civil rights movement, in which Dee and Davis were leading figures. The marks of their reading demonstrate interest in the life of the Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey; the ways in which family life and romantic relationships are impacted by racial oppression; and the speeches of some of the greatest Black American orators. The collection is comprised of the following works: Edmund Cronon, Black Moses, The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1962). First edition, second printing, with Dee & Davis's ownership signature (in Dee's hand) on the front pastedown and underlining and marginal lining to 52 pages. Later in his life, Davis narrated the documentary Marcus Garvey: Toward Black Nationhood (2003). Roy L. Hill, Rhetoric of Racial Revolt (1964). First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Mrs. O. Davis, with regards, I am sincerely Roy L. Hill". There are brief annotations on pages 82 and 374 and sticky notes or scraps of paper used to mark Frederick Douglass's "Speech at Faneuil Hall", Martin Luther King's "Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience", and Booker T. Washington's "Atlanta Exposition Address"; Washington's address is marked by three small leaves of manuscript notes on a creative project, possibly a film. William H. Grier and Price M. Cobb, Black Rage (1968). First edition, second printing, with Dee's ownership signature on the front free endpaper beneath the name and address of a previous owner, one Sam Washington of Los Angeles. This copy has underlining or marginal ticks to 11 pages and two sections marked by loosely inserted scrap paper: "Achieving Womanhood" and "Achieving Manhood". Nina Weisinger, A Guide to Studies in Spanish American Literature (1940). First edition, with Dee's ownership signature dated 1928 and Hunter College on the front free endpaper above her later ink ownership stamp. Dee has made extensive notes, largely in Spanish, on pages 38-9, 41, and the rear free endpaper. They appear to be preparatory notes for an essay on the Modernista movement. "A Tribute to Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, and Benefit for the Betty Shabazz Wholistic Retreat Center" (2000). A pamphlet signed by Dee on the front cover. Together 5 works, octavo: 1) CRONON, Edmund David. Black Moses, The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962). Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with dust jacket flaps loosely inserted. 2) HILL, Roy L. Rhetoric of Racial Revolt (Denver: Golden Bell Press, 1964). Original green cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black. 3) GRIER, William H. & Price M. Cobbs. Black Rage (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1968). Original black cloth, spine lettered in metallic red and pink, top edge red, with dust jacket. WEISINGER, Nina Lee. A Guide to Studies in Spanish American Literature (Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1940). Original blue wrappers, front cover printed in red; Pamphlet from A Tribute to Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, and Benefit for the Betty Shabazz Wholistic Retreat Center (Harlem, 2000). Bifolium printed in black. A few bumps to spine ends, covers of Rhetoric of Racial Revolt slightly soiled, top edge of Black Moses foxed, jacket of Black Rage unclipped, adhesive mark at foot of spine panel, faintly toned and soiled, wrappers of A Guide to Studies in Spanish American Literature creased and toned: a very good, well-read collection.
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