HUGHES, Langston (1901-1967). Tambourines to Glory. New York: The John Day Company, 1958.

8vo. Original black cloth; publisher's dust jacket (a few tiny chips and tears, short crease, otherwise bright). Provenance: William P. and Alice D. Mahoney (bookplate); by descent to present owner.

FIRST EDITION. With a small Christmas Card laid-in SIGNED BY HUGHES ("Langston").

Following Noël Sullivan’s death in September of 1956, Hughes remained in contact with his family. “Broke, Langston made no attempt to attend [Sullivan’s] funeral. Nevertheless, Sullivan’s death, though not unexpected, was a blow. With his passing, Langston had lost a haven he had perhaps outgrown, but one which had served him in times of personal crisis…. ‘California (indeed the whole world) is not quite the same with Noël gone,’ he wrote to Sullivan’s niece Alice Doyle Mahoney” (Rampersad, Life, Vol. II, p.257). That same fall of 1956, Hughes “did is best to push forward…Tambourines to Glory” although he would not find a publisher until 1957 (ibid, p.257).


Fine African Americana from the Collections of Noël Sullivan & William P. and Alice D. Mahoney