SIGNED First Printing! "My First Life," inscribed and SIGNED by Langston Hughes in this First Edition of Hughes' first autobiography. In The Big Sea, the first of an eventual two autobiographical volumes, Hughes recounts the period from his youth in Kansas and Mexico through the publication of his award-winning debut novel Not Without Laughter in 1930. (Hughes' second autobio, I Wonder as I Wander, wouldn't be published until 1956, and is much more widely available.) Hughes scholar and biographer, Arnold Rampersad, called The Big Sea "the finest firsthand account of the Harlem Renaissance in existence." Its "smiling poise is the poise of the blues, where laughter, art, and the will to survive triumph at last over personal suffering" (379). "First Edition" stated on copyright page. Rare signed. 

Text very fresh with faint soiling, some toning to spine of near-fine book. edge-wear with small closed tears to spine seam of very scarce jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Book #vP2222. $6800. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, as well as other legends and landmarks.