Me and My Captain
New York: Hours Press, 1939. Paperback.
A Very Good Minus staple bound paperback, showing minor soiling, particularly to the wrappers, toning, and creasing. “Copyright 1939 by Lawrence Gellert Int. Copyright Secured” stamped below the table of contents. 31 pages. 7” x 10.25”.
Hungarian-born Lawrence Gellert (1898–c. 1979), in the 1920s and ‘30s, collected a significant number of field-recorded Black American folksongs, primarily comprising blues and spirituals. By the latter part of the 1930s, however, his focus was on protest songs, and he published Negro Songs of Protest in 1936 and Me and My Captain, chain gang songs, in 1939.
The front matter in Me and My Captain suggests an additional two volumes were intended, but there is no evidence they were ever produced. The music was arranged for voice and piano by Russian-born, Jewish-American composer Lan Adomian (1905–1979). A blurb from Langston Hughes on the rear inside panel reads, “Of inestimable value.”
Price: $150.00