Saturday, May 23, 2009

Rare book or curiosity?

A Hastings-on-Hudson individual owns W.E.B. DuBois's own copy of The Souls of Black Folk. It's inscribed by DuBois to Hastings resident Kenneth Clark, and by Clark to his daughter. It's an early edition of the 1903 classic -- almost small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, with simple, sinuous ornamentation on a dull cloth cover. And here's the tragedy: smoke and water damage. The owner tells me it's worthless.

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