Minivan of the Revolution

Cotton Club program providing a biographical sketch of Calloway, background on his character Minnie the Moocher, a ten song setlist, and "Who's Who in the Band." Calloway had taken over a brilliant but failing band, The Missourian's, in 1930; after changing their name to Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, the group was hired by the Cotton Club in 1931 as a replacement for the Duke Ellington Orchestra while they were traveling. Calloway quickly proved so popular at the venue that his band became the co-house band with Ellington's. An early, signed piece of ephemera from a key period in Calloway's career. Not found in OCLC.

Brief essay on the mental and moral nature of both William McKinley and his assassin Leon Czolgosz, asking the question: "who was the martyr: McKinley or Czolgosz?". Separate edition of an essay which originally appeared in the October, 1907 issue of Mother Earth. This is presumably the same leaflet that is noted by detective Louis Dolmas as having been distributed at a Boston lecture by Emma Goldman, titled "Direct Action as the Logical Tactic of Anarchism," in November of 1907 (see Falk, Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, v.1 p.258). Rare.

Extremely uncommon pre-Stonewall celebration of gayness, featuring a protagonist named Percy ("color me gay") and his assortment of friends, all representing various iterations of gay stereotype from fey to femme to rough-trade. The final, poignant panel depicts Percy in an army uniform and is captioned: "My name is Percy. / Color me drafted." Though riddled with what would in time come to be considered offensive stereotypes, it is inconceivable that this coloring book could have been produced for anything other than the gay market; it is full of inside jokes - bath houses, cruise bars, and sugar daddies - that would have been lost on the uninitiated reader of the era. We thus imagine the market to have been resultingly tiny, a supposition reflected in the lack of any evidence of this title in commerce and the presence of only five copies in institutional collections (per OCLC, as of 2016).

Attractive volume of poems by the founder and director of the Arion Press.

An early critique on the relationship between drugs and the Black community by Tabor, a Harlem-born member of the Black Panther Party and one of the New York 21. The tract was important for its role in stimulating discussion on the role of drugs in marginalized communities, and an important influence in the development of the anti-drug stance taken by other radical groups. Indeed, among the Party's many national social programs included efforts to combat drug addiction, often led by former addicts who worked with the Party. "Dope, they argued, was part of the oppressor's plan to "ensure our enslavement"...Improving the health status of blacks thus went hand in hand with improving their political, economic, and social status. In the Party's view, black political activism and black public health activism were interwoven" (Bloom, Joshua and Waldo E. Martin. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, p.188-189). Reprinted in several different forms, this version is preceded only by the shorter, 4-page version published by the Committee to Defend the Panther 21, titled The Plague: Capitalism + Dope = Genocide.

Premiere issue of this short-lived Bay Area underground. Contents include the editor's thoughts on Haight-Ashbury as the "new Florence," coverage of the funeral of Hell's Angel "Chocolate George," an articles on Joan Baez, the English Hell's Angels, and panhandling, with a poem by David Gitin.

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Late issue of this Black Arts / Black Nationalist publication, with contributions by Joe Goncalves, Weusi Sema, William A. Maynard Jr., James Forman, Jackie Earley, Isaac J. Black, Sonia Sanchez, Cherilyn C. Wright, and Jeff Donaldson, et al. Contains a special section by Sharon Burke honoring Alain Locke.

If clothes make the man, then this guy’s winning at life...

Final issue of this short-lived, mimeographed Black liberation journal, published in Berkeley between 1968-1969. Contents include an editorial on police murder, and articles by Pat Wilmot ("The Role of Violence in Revolutionary Change"), Onij-Nejih ("The Strike as a Tactic," "We Will Either Find A Way Or Make A Way"), Tom Sanders ("No Strike Has Ever Been Lost"), and Mek Nimr ("Israel--The Freest Police State in the World"). Includes a lengthy article titled "Terrorism and Sabotage" by George Prosser (pseud. of H. Bruce Franklin). Illustrated throughout with pro-Panther photographs, quotes by various radical figures, and crude diagrams of molotov coctails, mortars, munitions, and wearponry. DANKY 970.

Every so often the ephemera bins throw up something impossibly sexy.

Two volumes; oblong quartos (23.5x28.75cm.); original pictorial and decorative boards; in original wooden, steel-clasped box, original paper and styrofoam padding. Fine. Beat & Pieces is a photographic history of the Beat Movement; Beat Books is a bibliography of the Movement, covering the years 1944 to 1965.

New Arrivals: MAU MAU IN ACTION (1985), by Waruhiu Itote (General China). A history of the Mau Mau uprising in British Kenya (1952-1960) by one of the rebellion's leaders.

Memorial souvenir documenting the 81 original insurgents who took part in the voyage from Tuxpan, Mexico, to the east coast of Cuba in November, 1956 -- the official launching of the Cuban Revolution. Includes a photographic portrait of each of the participants, including very youthful portraits of Fidel and Raul Castro, Ernesto "Che" Guevarra, Camilo Cienfuegos, and others. Publication date uncertain, but certainly after October, 1959, as Camilo Cienfuegos is listed among the "martyrs" of the revolution. Fidel Castro is credited on title page for "leadership and direction" of the publication.

Scarce volume of poetry by the Haitian author, journalist, and playwright, published shortly before emigrating from Duvalierist Haiti for Montreal in 1966. Fouché (1915-1978) taught in Chambly, and would go on to complete his highly regarded M.A. thesis, Voudou et théâtre; pour un nouveau théâtre populaire (1976), at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Collaboration of artwork and poetry by members of the BECC and Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Vietnam, compiled by BECC co-founder Benny Andrews and anti-war artist/activist Rudolf Baranik. The BECC was originally formed in 1969 in response to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit "Harlem On My Mind," which excluded any contributions by African-American artists. In 1971, in response to riots at the Attica correctional facility in New York, the Coalition organized the Arts Exchange Program, providing art classes for prisoners taught by members of the BECC. Among the contributors are Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Dana Chandler, Leon Golub, Alvin Hollingsworth, Jacob Lawrence, and Faith Ringgold, among many others.