Mostly color-illustrated wrappers, 6.5 x 9.5”
An essential reference for collectors of African-American history from the 18th - 20th centuries, notable for its bibliographic value, as the recurring sales unearthed many treasures of great rarity and historical significance.
Scheduled to coincide with Black History Month, the first Swann auctions were groundbreaking events of African-American antiquarian collecting which sometimes made newspaper headlines because of Hollywood celebrities in attendance, the high prices realized, and occasional criticism of monetizing the tragic slave experience.
The cover illustrations give an inkling of the range of material offered: Phyllis Wheatley first editions, Amistad-related engravings, Abolitionist folk art, contemporary John Brown broadsides, Sojourner Truth first editions, Emancipation Proclamation engravings, Scott Joplin musical imprints, Paul Robeson and Josephine Baker posters, photos and drawings, Harlem Renaissance imprints, Scottsboro Boys literature, World War II Tuskegee Airmen posters, Martin Luther King Jr. inscribed books and civil rights movement broadsides, and imprints of the Black Panthers