Minty Alley
London: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, 1936.
First edition, first printing. [3]-320pp. Bound in publisher's red cloth, spine and front board printed in black. Good with a heavily sunned spine, cocked binding, light foxing to textblock edges. The front free endpaper has been excised; offset to the title page. Lacking the dust jacket. Exceedingly rare.
The only novel by Trinidadian Marxist intellectual, historian, sportswriter, and activist C.L.R. James, written in 1927. It was the first novel by a West Indian of African descent to be published in the UK. As with all James' work (be it literary criticism or political polemic), his genuine concern for the thoughts and inner lives of everyday people is evident. One of the first major works of literature from the Caribbean and an important, though often-overlooked proletarian novel.
Price: $1,500