Georgia Douglas Johnson | Bronze, Boston, 1922, first edition, inscribed by the author

Georgia Douglas Johnson

Bronze. Boston: B.J. Brimmer, 1922

FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, small 8vo, original cloth, lacking dust-jacket (but with rear flap and rear panel laid in), a very good copy 

First edition of the second collection of poems by this important figure in the Harlem Renaissance—one of the first African-American female playwrights. Inscribed by the author: "Dec. 27 - '22. To Mr. Roscoe C. Simmons shall we not dedicate this page to this day which we record happy & signal. Read page 15 from The Heart of a Woman & thank every God for your exclusion. Sincerely Georgia Douglas Johnson." The recipient was the African-American orator, journalist, and politician, active from the 1920s to the '50s. With an introduction by W.E.B. Du Bois. Rare—there have only been two copies at auction since 1974.