NEGRO

On 11 x 17.5 piece of shiny art paper, cut from a programme. The signature ?Paul Robeson? is written across Robeson?s front, beneath his smiling face in a black and white photograph. Beneath the photograph is the caption: ? ?A voice like his is worth waiting ten years to hear, and an art like his comes once in a generation.? / THE TORONTO EVENING TELEGRAM?. On the reverse are part of the lyrics from two songs, the second being ?Short?nin? bread?.

In blue ink on one side of 10.5 x 14 cm. leaf torn from autograph album. Good bold signature. Reads: 'With best wishes | to you | & thanks | Paul Robeson | Mar 16/60'.

The three letters are addressed to the translator of Forel's book, the surgeon and free-thinker Percival Macleod Yearsley (1867-1951). Forel's letter: 4to, 1 p. Twenty lines. In French. Text clear and complete. On browned and chipped high-acidity paper. Laid down on the front pastedown. In the first paragraph he thanks the translator, Macleod Yearsley, for the book, which he praises in fulsome terms. He is sending a copy of his 'Question Sexuelle'.

1p., folio. On aged and worn paper. In top right-hand corner: 'N. 4.' Twelve lines of text, followed by signatures 'Domingo Rodrigz.', 'Conception de Velasco de la Forre' and 'Pose Ma. de la Forre'. Begins: 'D. Domingo Rodriguez vende a la Sra. Da. Conception de Velasco de la Forre, un negro nombrado Andres de oficio calesero y cocinero [ by trade a coachman and cook ], sano y sin tachas [ healthy and without blemishes ]'.

The four plates (each 29 x 23.5 cm) are loose and unframed, in fair condition, aged and worn, with no margins, chipping to the edges, and with the corners cut off at a diagonal. Each title written in pencil in a contemporary hand on the reverse of the print, each with a price of '6d'. The subjects are not depicted in unattractive style, and are certainly not grotesques, but they are shown as 'simple', untroubled individuals, with the usual happy, gleaming brown faces and shiny white teeth.

[4] + ii + 120pp., 8vo. In green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. With stamps and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. A scholarly work, the 35 sections subdivided into 'Historical', 'Growth by States', 'Present Conditions' and 'Conclusions', and with tables throughout. Scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copies on COPAC at the London Library and Cambridge.

[4] + ii + 120pp., 8vo. In green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. With stamps and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. A scholarly work, the 35 sections subdivided into 'Historical', 'Growth by States', 'Present Conditions' and 'Conclusions', and with tables throughout. Scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copies on COPAC at the London Library and Cambridge.

[2] + 66pp., 8vo. Stapled. With loose front and back covers of green printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, with rusted staples and the two loose covers heavily chipped and worn. With labels, shelfmark and stamps of the Board of Education Reference Library. The first part is titled 'Results of the Investigation', and is in eight parts, including 'The Church', 'The Secret Society', 'Benficial and Insurance Societies' and 'Cooperative Business'. The second part includes 'Papers Submitted to the Conference' by H. H. Proctor, Dr H. R.

viii + 192pp., 8vo. In brown printed wraps. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. Stamps and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. A scholarly work, with contributions by Dr J. G. Merrill, President of Fisk University, Henry N. Lee, of LeMoyne Institute, E. H. Holmes, of the Prairie View Normal School, Alexander Hamilton, Jr, of the firm of Hamilton & Son, Building Contractors, and W. T. B. Williams. Indexed and with three-page 'Bibliography of the Negro Artisan and the Industrial Training of Negroes' Uncommon: six copies on COPAC.

3pp., folio. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Signed 'Isabella Hankey' and witnessed by 'John fforster Carey Street'.

Page detached from an album, 17 x 14cm, slightly foxed, mainly good condition, inscribed Every good wish | Paul Robeson | [Mar?] 1930 | Lawrence Brown. Note from wikipedia: Robeson and his accompanist and arranger Lawrence Brown were the first to bring spirituals to the concert stage; their association lasted through four decades.

The Memorandum is a four-page folio (leaf size roughly fourteen inches by nine and a half) bifolium. In very good condition, lightly creased and folded. It details Mrs Wright's royalties (as 'proprietor'), advance and percentages. The paperback rights agreement consists of four typewritten pages, on four leaves, each roughly thirteen inches by eight, stapled together at the head beneath green tape. Very good, though lightly creased and with some fraying to tape. It is signed by the Hamilton & Co. chairman Joseph and witnessed by his secretary E. M. Holloway.