How about the most recent book?
My most recent book is a first edition of John Wesley Cromwell’s The Negro in American History (1914). I used the funds of the David Ruggles Prize to get this book on eBay and am so proud to have this in my collection. Cromwell was a teacher, lawyer, and bibliophile who wrote a textbook on African American history to empower children in the classroom. A Black intellectual society named the “The American Negro Academy” published and marketed the book. By 1915, the book was taught in institutions such as the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama.
And your favorite book in your collection?
My favorite book in my collection is one of the few on Black bibliophiles, Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History (1990). The book is based on a conference at Howard University, where people like Dorothy Porter and Charles Blockson discussed the tradition of Black archiving and collecting. A few years ago, I looked for it for months and immediately bought it when it came up. I appreciate this book because there is so much information on the tradition of Black archiving, from essays on Arturo Schomburg to Jesse Moorland. I love that book so much that I doubled up on it.
Laura Helton has recently published her book Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History (2024), and that book also adds to that tradition, something that I aspire to do with my dissertation research.
Best bargain you’ve found?
The best bargain I found was on eBay. I purchased a seventh edition of W.E.B. Du Bois' Souls of Black Folk (1907) for around $180. I forgot who the seller was, but I remember they were trying to get rid of some of their grandparent’s items rather quickly but didn’t quite understand the item they were selling. This could have easily sold for $1,000 and up.
How about The One That Got Away?
A two-volume book titled History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 by George Washington Williams. At the time, it was being sold for about $1,500, and I didn’t have the funds, and someone snatched it rather quickly on eBay.
What would be the Holy Grail for your collection?
If I could own any early edition of William Still’s The Underground Railroad I would almost feel like I didn’t need to collect anymore. That book means a lot to my dissertation research and Black communities overall. Still is the embodiment of some of the early African American collectors that I look up to.
Who is your favorite bookseller/bookstore?
I like Ian Brabner’s site, Rare Americana. I purchased a 1939 edition of The History of Alpha Phi Alpha: A Development in Negro College Life by Charles Wesley from him. The communication and price for the items on his site are amazing.
What would you collect if you didn’t collect books?
I would probably collect old photographs related to Black Colleges and Universities. Sometimes, a photo can reveal more than what a book can, and I may still start that collecting journey, but I am taking things one step at a time.
