(LITERATURE AND POETRY) THURMAN WALLACE Editor Harlem; a For

Sale 2137 - Lot 245

Price Realized: $ 5,280

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000

ONE OF THE GREAT RARITIES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (LITERATURE AND POETRY.) THURMAN, WALLACE, Editor. Harlem; a Forum of Negro Life. Volume 1, Number 1, November, 1928 (one of only two issues published). Cover and full page illustration by Aaron Douglas with additional full-page illustrations by Richard Bruce and Leon Noyes. Tall 4to, original pictorial orange wrappers; a couple of tiny nicks and some very light general wear. New York: Harlem Bookshop, 1928

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Containing articles by a who's who of the Harlem literary scene, "Harlem" was the brainchild of Wallace Thurman (1902-1934) who, two years earlier had launched "Fire," another literary magazine that sadly lasted for only one issue. The explanation usually given for the brief life of "Fire" was that it was too revolutionary and modern, and that the old guard black literati did not give it their support. But "Harlem" on the other hand, which included articles by well-respected, "old-guard" African-American writers such as Alain Locke and Walter White, fared no better. "Harlem" only lasted for two issues. Contributors to this issue include: Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglas, Walter White, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Effie Lee Newsome, Mae Cowdery, Helene Johnson, Alice Dunbar Nelson, George W. Little, Theophilus Lewis, and Allison Davis. Thurman, who had edited both magazines, finally broke out with his first novel "Blacker the Berry" and a play "Harlem," both appearing in 1929.