Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children - Four Novellas. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$20.00 + shipping
Description: New York: Harper & Brothers. Good/No Jacket. 1938. Second Edition. Hardcover. Slight wear/soiling/fading to covers and spine. Corners slightly bumped. Front free endpaper has a clipped top corner and is also separating from the book. Previous owner ink signature on half title page. Previous owner pencil inscription on title page. Otherwise, contents clean. Front hinge is slightly starting but binding is holding well. A solid copy of a rare book. Size: 8vo - over 7-1/2" - 9-1/2" tall . 8vo. .
Seller: Riverow Bookshop, Owego, NY, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. UNCLE TOM'S CHILDREN. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$40.25 + shipping
Description: Four novellas. 317 pp. White endpapers, with small mark on ffep and large stain on rear paste-down endpaper. Red cloth with gilt titles. Slightly faded spine, small stain on front cover. VG
Seller: J. Wyatt Books, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children; Four Novellas. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$151.80 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Scans available by request. Front cover has some discoloration (probably from water). A relatively small area near the title. Flyleaf detatched. Spine darkened. Two 1945 newspaper reviews laid in. A review from the Daily Worker of Black Boy and a review of Gertrude Stein's Wars I Have Seen written by Richard Wright.
Seller: Anthology Booksellers, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. UNCLE TOM'S CHILDREN: FIVE LONG STORIES. Harper & Brothers Publishers, NY, 1938.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: xxx. 384pp. Published in July 1941. Yellow cloth boards with title on spine and front board. Boards slightly rubbed. PO's name on f.f.p. & f.e.p. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: Du Bois Book Center, Englewood, NJ, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Four Novellas. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Description: Third Edition. 1 vols. 8vo. Author's First Book. Reddish brown cloth, spine darkened, edges browned. Gift inscription on endpaper. A very good copy
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Richard Wright. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1938.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Reprint (1941). Good. In Good unclipped dust jacket; dust jacket is shelfworn with loss and chipping along edges; tears and creases; faded and soiled; protected with a brodart cover. Golden yellow cloth boards are worn along edges. Lightly stained at fore edge. Offsetting to endpages. NO markings in text. Binding is sturdy. In sound reading condition. Pasadena's finest independent new and used bookstore.
Seller: Book Alley, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children: Four Novellas. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: No DJ. Stated first edition with B - N on the copyright page.
Seller: J. Mercurio Books, Maps, & Prints IOBA, Garrison, NY, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Harper and Brothers. New York. 1938 (1940). 384 pages. First edition thus. This landmark title was first published in 1938. Two years later Richard Wright's new novel Native Son was published to critical acclaim. As a result Harper re-issued Wright's first book from two years earlier, Uncle Tom's Children, now with a new 21 page autobiographical preface penned by Wright, titled Ethics of Living Jim Crow. Harper publisher's code on copyright page is G-P which translates to July 1940. Book is about fine with only flaw being light toning along yellow cloth edges. Yellow cloth is bright and clean otherwise. Book is tight. Binding and hinges are strong and sound. No writing within. Original DJ with $2.50 price intact on flap. DJ condition less than that of book. DJ shows an open chip at crown, along with a couple of very small edge chips. Rubbing along folds. Minimal DJ soiling. This is Wright's first book consisting of four novellas: Big Boy Leaves Home, Down by the Riverside, Long Black Song and Fire and Cloud. A landmark title in African American literature, and Wright's first book with a new autobiographical preface. Uncommon in DJ and rare in this condition. Near fine/VG-
Seller: Medium Rare Books, Mountainside, NJ, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$565.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 317 pages. First edition, first printing. His first book consisting of four novellas, Big Boy Leaves Home, Down by the Riverside, Long Black Song and Fire and Cloud. Near fine book with very slight fading to the bottom 2" of the spine in a good only dust jacket with the bottom 2" missing of the spine and the front cover. A nice copy!
Seller: Fireproof Books, MINNETONKA, MN, U.S.A.
WRIGHT, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition stated. Famous African-American's first novel. Consisting of four short works: 'Big Boy Leaves Home', 'Down by the Riverside', 'Long Black Song' and 'Fire and Cloud'. "Stunning impact of the essential tragedy of the Negro in a white man's civilization." Almost Near Fine, contemporary signature at front endpaper, in Good only dustjacket, split along front spine edge, perhaps an inch area of loss at top spine end, chipped at flap corners and lower spine end, some tiny chips at mid spine.
Seller: Babylon Revisited Rare Books, Northampton, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Harper and Brothers. New York. 1938. 317 pages. First edition stated, first printing with requisite publisher's code B-N just beneath the first edition statement on copyright page. 1938 date on copyright page and title page. Red cloth with blue and gray block title box on front cover; and also on backstrip. Cloth shows general handling and soiling; rubbing at cornertips. Penciled name on front endpaper; small ink name neatly written on upper corner of title page. Age darkened endpapers along whose edge on pastedown is a tiny amount of unobtrusive, barely visible tape fragment (barely). Wright's first book consisting of four novellas: Big Boy Leaves Home, Down by the Riverside, Long Black Song and Fire and Cloud. A landmark title in African American literature, and Wright's first book. 1st/1st. Binding and hinges are sound; no cracking in gutters. About VG.
Seller: Medium Rare Books, Mountainside, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 317p. Original red cloth. dj. 21 cm. An appealing jacket despite some soiling, edge-wear, short tears, a couple of chips, and, finally, some small holes along flap folds. Endpapers generally browned and rather brittle; front free endpaper detached near fold. First edition of his first book. The novellas are titled: "Big Boy Leaves Home; Down by the Riverside; Long Black Song; and Fire and Cloud.
Seller: McBlain Books, ABAA, Hamden, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: [viii], 317 pages of text. Original hardcover cloth binding heavily worn, soiled, and stained, with darkened spine and minor chipping to top of spine; protected in custom stiff archival mylar. Inner hinges starting to detach. Brown textured paper endpapers are detached, and the front endpaper is chipped. A few minor stains in text. Previous owner's name (to whom the note in the book is inscribed) neatly on front pastedown endpaper. Previously affixed to the front endpaper is a note, measuring 4+1/8 inches in height, by 8+1/2 inches in length, with the author's inscription and autograph "for Esther Handler in defense of Loyalist Spain [signed] Richard Wright 4/11/38." The note is folded almost in half, with the crease barely missing Wright's signature. First edition.
Seller: Kurt Gippert Bookseller (ABAA), Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper & Brothers, 1938.
Price: US$1200.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Story Press Edition. Age-related wear and handling to boards. Gilt on spine faded. Overall foxing to edges with two larger dark spots on fore-edge and bottom edge. Mild wear to spine edges and corners of boards. Gilt lettering on front board in good condition. Paper toned. Inscription from Wright on ffep: "With best wishes/ Richard Wright/ 4/20/39/ New York/ and Gent / 6/18/39." Binding is solid and text clean. Overall good copy considering the age. Photos upon request.
Seller: Smith Family Bookstore Downtown, Eugene, OR, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1938.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: Near fine with some light toning to textured endpapers, rear hinge just starting, short closed tear to page-corner 189. In near fine dust jacket with spine sunned a shade, some shallow chipping to spine tips and corners, a three inch split to upper rear spine fold (though not visible when in mylar) and some mild soiling to white rear panel - with small chip to upper front jacket flap corner but $2.50 price still present. In mylar cover.
Seller: THE HERMITAGE BOOKSHOP, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
WRIGHT, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children. Harper Brothers, 1938.
Price: US$1550.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: "Freedom belongs to the strong" (from Wright's inscription). WRIGHT, Richard (1908 1960). Uncle Tom's Children. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938. 8vo. Publisher's red cloth with titles lettered in gilt (sunning to spine; some soiling to paper edges). Fourth edition. INSCRIBED BY WRIGHT WITH AN AUTOGRAPHED QUOTATION SIGNED: "To Charlotte Rosenbaum / 'Freedom belongs to the strong' / Sincerely, Richard Wright / 7/8/40 / Chicago." Originally published with four novellas; two more were added when the book was reprinted in 1940. Book #Cv2302. $1550. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, history, and science.
Seller: PEN ULTIMATE RARE BOOKS, Pine Plains, NY, U.S.A.
Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom's Children.. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1938.
Price: US$2200.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first printing with B-N on the copyright page of the author's first book. Octavo, original red cloth. Signed by the author on the half-title page, "with good wishes Richard Wright 3/14/40." In good condition. Set in the American Deep South, each of the powerful novellas collected here concerns an aspect of the lives of black people in the postslavery era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. Published in 1938, this was the first book from Wright, who would continue on to worldwide fame as the author of the novels Native Son and Black Boy.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$7450.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Presentation copy from Richard Wright to Ernest Hemingway: "To Ernest Hemingway / From / Richard Wright." Stated second edition in married original dust jacket, first published with four novellas; two more were added when the book was reprinted in 1940. In Down by the Riverside, included in this collection, Wright transposes the Italian retreat at the Battle of Caporetto in Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms to the American South. Richard Wright was known to be a great admirer of Ernest Hemingway, whom he once named as a modernist writer whose work should be read by aspiring black authors (Scruggs, Hemingway and the Black Renaissance, 58–59). Mild toning to margins of endpapers, light toning to page margins, spine ends gently crimped, and a light pale stain to bottom front cover, foot of spine, and just an inch to bottom back spine fold, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with professional restoration to extremities, mild shelf wear, light stain to bottom front cover, bottom corner of back cover, and along bottom of flaps, else fine.
Seller: Idler Fine Books, Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.