TAMBOURINES TO GLORY.; a novel by Langston Hughes
London: Victor Gollancz Limited, 1959. First British Edition. Boards. Small 8vo, red boards with spine lettered in gold, dust jacket, 188 pages. Near Fine / Near Fine. Item #482
Author's First Novel in Near Fine condition with a Near Fine & unclipped--thus Rare--dust jacket (with very slight a few abraision & clean nicks near the top of the spine). The first British edition is considerably rarer than the American.
Slightly cocked, light stain to margin of the first few leaves, light wear to the tips and a few small spots. DJ title adds: "or in other words The Rise & Fall of Two Hot-Gospelling Harlem Ladies."
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) thus described his first novel:
"Tambourines to Glory is an urban folk tale set against a background of colorful independent, unorthodox churches which have sprung up all over Harlem in the last decade. It is in no sense an attack on organized religion, or on cults as such, but is a fictional expose of certain ways in which religion is misused in large city communities today by various types of unscrupulous leaders who might be called 'gospel racketeers,' preying upon the gullibility of simple people."
Price: $150.00