The New Cab Calloway's Cat-ologue: A Hepster's Dictionary, Revised 1939 Edition
[No Place]: [No Publisher], 1939.
Revised edition. The second edition of the pocket dictionary of African American slang attributed to the famous Cotton Club orchestra leader. It has been billed as "the first dictionary published by a Black person," but more accurately it is one of the first lexicons of African American slang of the Jazz age. Some of the words and phrases spread like gangbusters to mainstream America: "chick," "freeby," "hot," "in the groove," "mellow," "corny," and "reefer" for example. Some did not, such as the phrase "togged to the bricks" (meaning to be dressed to kill) and "glims" (much better known as eyes).
[16] pp. 2.75" x 4.4" Stapled wraps. Very Good with scrapes to cover, creased throughout; staples rusted with a little offsetting. Rare, only one institutional copy located in a recent OCLC Worldcat search.
Price: $3,500.00