The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches – W. E. Burghardt Du Bois

Signed by Du Bois at tipped in limitation. Limited edition for the 50th anniversary of its original printing, 1903-1953. Quarter navy spine with decorative printed paper in mauve and maroon. Original glassine wrapper. Provenance: Naomi Caryl Hirshhorn.

Foreword by Shirley Graham (wife of Du Bois). The work was referenced by Henry James in 1946 in his American Scene as “the only Southern book of any distinction published for many a year,” and was lauded as “the most thought-arresting challenge in the whole race problem campaign” (Life Magazine); and as “one of the most striking books in contemporary literature” (Chicago Chronicle).

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was the first black person to earn a doctorate at Harvard, was active in the Niagara Movement seeking equal and civil rights, and was a founder of the NAACP. One of his firmly held beliefs included that capitalism was a primary cause of racism.