W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880 (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1935). 8vo., black cloth lettered in silver. First edition of a work that “provided a unique vision that shaped the contours of American historical scholarship.”
A Dedication Copy – John Hope’s personal copy, with the Atlanta University president’s library stamp, “Hope Library, Atlanta, GA.,” on the title page. In his preface to Black Reconstruction, Du Bois acknowledged Hope, “who gave me help and asylum during the completion of the work.” This volume is inscribed” “Very Sincerely, W. E. B. Du Bois, Xmas 1935.” (Hope would pass away less than two months later.) Above Du Bois’s inscription, Hope’s secretary Constance Nabrit added: “To the Hopes, from Constance, 12/24/35.” (Constance’s husband Samuel M. Nabrit, a noted biologist, was the first African American to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission.)
A quintessential association copy documenting a “soul mate” relationship of nearly forty years, as Du Bois considered Hope “without doubt my closest friend.”