ASK Your Mama : 12 Moods for Jazz (first printing) Hughes, Langston [Very Good] [Hardcover]

Description

Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 1961. 92 pages. First edition stated, first printing with the 1961 date printed on title page. Original first issue DJ from 1961, without an isbn number on bottom edge of DJ rear. Book is bright, tight and clean. both inside and out. No writing within. Binding and hinges are strong and sound. Illustrated boards are bright. Shelf-wear along edges; small paper loss at bottom tips. Pages and endpapers are clean. DJ is bright and attractive. Price-clipped flap without an ISBN on rear. Rear flap mentions that Mr. Hughes still makes his home in NYC; later printings have removed this as he had passed away by the time subsequent printings were printed. DJ shows light rubbing and handling along edges. Small closed edge tear along upper rear edge. Tiny faint spot of discoloration on DJ rear. As for the title, Ask Your Mama, Langston Hughes said it best: I think one might call the book a single poem because it's divided in twelve sections, its thematic unity holds it together, I believe, written in segments at the Newport Jazz Festival. First edition, first printing in hardcover and DJ, of Langston Hughes' epic poem hailed as a milestone in its celebration of jazz, blues and the African American spirit. VG/VG