I Speak of Freedom: A Statement of African Ideology

London: Mercury Books, 1962. Presentation copy signed by Kwame Nkrumah, the founding Prime Minister and President of Ghana, inscribed to his private secretary in blue ink on the front free endpaper, "To Erica with love from Kwame Nkrumah 16/12/65." xiv, [ii], 291 pp. Specially bound for Nkrumah by The Book Company in Wiltshire, UK in full black calf stamped in gilt and green with a small Ghanian flag to the spine. Second edition. Near Fine, very slight bowing to boards, tiny tear to dedication page.
A rare signed specially-bound association copy from the American-educated Ghanian politician who was a key figure in the 1960s pan-African, anticolonial, (truncated) and socialist world movements.
Provenance: from the collection of Erica Powell (1921-2007), a white Englishwoman who became an unlikely participant and eyewitness to the shaping of modern Africa. In the early 1950s Powell became the secretary to Nkrumah in the British Gold Coast. In 1957 Ghana became the first African country to win independence. Powell would continue as Nkrumah's personal assistant, accompanying him around the world to conferences in the Communist bloc and Third World, until his overthrow in a coup in 1966. This particular, specially bound and inscribed copy was presented to her upon leaving Ghana in Christmas 1965; the coup took place in February the following year before she returned, and the two would never see each other again. Nkrumah would live another six years in exile in Guinea. (Inventory #: 140945074)