Mar 21, 2024 - Sale 2663

Sale 2663 - Lot 280

Unsold
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(LITERATURE.) Editor's correspondence regarding the proposed French edition of the slave narrative anthology "Lay My Burden Down." 7 typescript, carbon or manuscript items, each about 10½ x 8 inches; minor wear. Paris, 1946-1948
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Additional Details

"Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery" was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1945, the first major publication based largely on the oral history of slavery collected by the Federal Writers Project. The publisher Jean Vigneau became interested in producing a French translation. Offered here is a correspondence file kept by editor Jean R. Lamour regarding this and other projects. It begins with a 2 July 1946 letter from Vigneau regarding the editing of "l'ouvrage sur L'Esclavage" (work on slavery). His 28 October 1946 letter describes it as "Souvenirs d'Anciens Esclaves" (Memories of Former Slaves). A draft carbon of an unsigned contract from 29 November 1946 is between the Vigneau and the Black Star Publishing Company (the Time/Life-affiliated photographic agency, not a Marcus Garvey operation) for licensing "Lay My Burden Down." Vigneau's 14 May 1948 letter discusses the book further, including its introduction by B.A. Botkin, and a 26 May 1948 letter inquires about the progress on a translation.

We have not found that this French edition ever reached the presses.