Type Punch Matrix has prepared a catalogue of James Baldwin: The George Bixby Collection. Baldwin is a well-known novelist. An uncomfortable and at times difficult upbringing, he was an atypical man. He grew up in New York, son of an unmarried but loving mother, a demanding and hard step-father, and numerous siblings. He was black in a time of greater segregation, and like so many others of his race, lived in near-poverty conditions. On top of that, he had issues of sexual identity at a time when that was not something one wanted to talk about. Then, add to that, he had a brilliant mind, far beyond most of his contemporaries, black or white. Then, add one more thing. He could write like few others ever could. Set all of that in the middle of a developing civil rights movement. It's the stuff novels are made of, and a source for the material that filled his books and his life.
There's one other name that appears in the title of this catalogue, that of George Bixby. Bixby was a bookseller and collector, first entering the trade in the 1960s. He died in 2023 at the age of 89. By then, he was more collector, and like many collectors of advanced age, he knew it was time to disperse his collection, but was unable to actually do so. Brian Cassidy, partner in Trade Punch Matrix, was in the process of helping him deal with his collection when Bixby died last August. Bixby wrote a couple of books and numerous articles, including a bibliography of poet Thomas Gunn. He was in the process of preparing a bibliography of James Baldwin when he died. His collection included many works by Baldwin. These are a few of them.
Baldwin's first novel, published in 1953, is his most famous. Go Tell It on the Mountain is a semi-autobiographical story about a family in Harlem that very much resembled the one in which he grew up, controlling, tyrannical father and all. It took Baldwin ten years or more and many rewrites to complete. It was a painful experience as it forced him to come to grips with his own life and the challenges he had faced. Fourteen different editions are offered. They range from an advance review copy ($12,500) to a first edition ($11,000), first UK edition ($4,000), first paperback edition ($500), first trade paperback ($100), Italian and Japanese translations, and a Dell “Contemporary Classic” ($30).
Baldwin's first essay collection was not the box office success of Go Tell It on the Mountain (Baldwin said it had been remaindered). Notes of a Native Son, published in 1955, is an essay collection but fits together as a unified whole. It has been described as “a James Baldwin manifesto, an overture to the story he was telling during the rest of his life.” Eight editions are offered, including a first edition, first issue ($2,500) and second issue ($2,000).
Giovanni's Room, Type Punch Matrix tells us, “is one of the great twentieth century studies of masculinity and sexual identity. A landmark of gay literature, in his creation of an expatriate American whose desires are weighted with ambivalence, shame, and anger.” Again, much is autobiographical, Baldwin living for a decade in France and personally dealing with gender identity issues. The book was published in 1956, Baldwin returning to America the following year. Seven editions are offered, including a first edition ($2,500) and an inscribed UK first edition ($5,500).
Despite his acceptance by and relationships with leading white figures, the treatment of blacks in America burned inside him. In the 1960s, it was suggested he write a play about Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. Baldwin wrote this play that was published in 1964, Blues for Mister Charlie. It was based on that terrible event and is dedicated to Medgar Evers, a black civil rights worker also murdered in Mississippi. Baldwin's anger is visible in his portrayal of whites. It led to controversy and condemnation by some. Nine editions are offered, including uncorrected proofs of the first edition ($1,500) and a signed first edition ($3,500).
Baldwin's second play, after “Mister Charlie,” was written a decade earlier, though not published until 1968. The title is The Amen Corner, and it too traces a time in his life, specifically dealing fictionally with his father (he considered his step-father his father). His father was at times a harsh man, one who Baldwin eventually came to believe loved his children, though not expressed in a way children could recognize. His father was a worker, but also a part-time preacher, and his religion was tough and filled with concern about whether his children would go to heaven. His God must have been as tough as him. It was first shown in a student production in 1954, and on Broadway in 1965, and finally published in 1968. Five copies are offered, including an original script for the 1965 Broadway production ($1,000), the uncorrected galley proofs for the first edition ($750) and a first edition ($200).
Type Punch Matrix may be reached at 301-589-0789 or info@typepunchmatrix.com. Their website is www.typepunchmatrix.com.
