DU BOIS, W.E.B. (DuBois)

The Souls of Black Folk

First edition. Pencil ownership signature and Brookline address of Horace Bumstead on the front fly, hinges neatly restored, a nice, near fine copy, with the gilt lettering on the spine and front board unrubbed and easily readable. Affixed to the front pastedown is the text portion of the front panel of the prohibitively rare dustwrapper, and on the blank page facing the title page is a "real photo" postcard photographic portrait of Du Bois dated in 1904 from a Boston photographer named Purdy. A much sought-after classic of American literature, and almost certainly the most important book by one of the most historically important African-Americans. The original owner of this volume, Horace Bumstead, was a white Bostonian who Du Bois referred to as the "Apostle of Higher Education of the Negro." Bumstead was born in 1841 and was educated at the Boston Latin School and Yale College (Class of 1863). He was commissioned as a Major for the 43rd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops in 1864. After the war he joined the faculty of Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) as an instructor in Natural Science, and went on to become the second President of the University from 1886-1907. During his tenure there, he brought Du Bois to Atlanta University, where Du Bois founded the Department of Sociology, and did some of his most significant scholarly work, much of it published in the series Atlanta University Studies of the Negro Problem. The historically black university had a great deal of trouble getting appropriations from the state, and subsequently Bumstead almost single-handedly raised the funds necessary to keep the university functioning. The Souls of Black Folk has remained in print since its original publication, but has become rare in the first edition and in this condition. The inclusion of the portrait, jacket remnant, and the significance of the association is just a bonus. Blockson 101 #52.

[BTC #280726]