first edition
1965 · New York
by [AFRICAN AMERICANA] BROWN, Claude
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo (21.75cm); red cloth, with titles stamped in black and gilt on spine and front cover; red topstain; dustjacket; [6],7-415,[1]pp. Contemporary ink gift inscription to half-title page, base of spine gently nudged, mild softening to two corners (though still sharp), else a clean, Near Fine copy, with the topstain bright and unfaded. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $5.95), with mild wrinkling to spine ends, corner tips, and upper front panel, with some faint foxing on verso; about Near Fine, with the red spine panel notably unfaded. An attractive copy of Brown's first book, an autobiography of the Harlem streets and its many pitfalls. "For a short period of his life, Brown was a member of two notorious gangs, the Buccaneers and The Forty Thieves. After serving time in a reform school, he eventually enrolled in Howard University, Washington, D.C. where he earned his degree. The book is used as a standard text for the study of black life within America's greatest city" (Blockson 94, One Hundred and One Influential Books). BRIGNANO 43; BLOCKSON 3327. (Inventory #: 62684)