The Strength of Gideon and other Stories

$650 · Offered by Book Collector Inc

Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) Year: 1900 Publisher: Dodd, Mead Company Place: New York Description: 362 pages with plates including frontispiece. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5") bound in original publisher's brown cloth with pictorial front cover and spine, lettering in gilt. First edition. Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had escaped from slavery; his father was a veteran of the American Civil War, having served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment. His parents instilled in him a love of learning and history. He was a student at an all-white high school, Dayton Central High School, and he participated actively as a student. During high school, he was both the editor of the school newspaper and class president, as well as the president of the school literary society. Dunbar had also started the first African-American newsletter in Dayton. He wrote his first poem at age 6 and gave his first public recital at age 9. Dunbar's first published work came in a newspaper put out by his high school friends Wilbur and Orville Wright, who owned a printing plant. The Wright Brothers later invested in the Dayton Tattler , a newspaper aimed at the black community, edited and published by Dunbar. His first collection of poetry, Oak and Ivy , was published in 1892 and attracted the attention of James Whitcomb Riley, the popular "Hoosier Poet". Both Riley and Dunbar wrote poems in both standard English and dialect.

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.