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TOOMER, Jean; Cane 1927 | 1st Edition | Signed | Association Copy | Roosevelt Family Provenance.

    This 1927 impression of Cane serves as a sophisticated bridge between the revolutionary heart of the Harlem Renaissance and the apex of Anglo-American social and political power. Originally the property of Elisabeth Cook, her 1938 marriage into the Clarke baronetcy integrated her into the Roosevelt family dynasty and the elite circles of two U.S. Presidents. The presence of this foundational work of Black Modernism within the library of a family so closely tied to the global elite illustrates the profound reach of Jean Toomer’s masterpiece and its engagement with the highest levels of international society.

DETAILS

  • Title
  • CANE
  • Author
  • Jean TOOMER
  • Published
  • London: 1927
  • Boni and Liveright
  • Edition
  • 1st Edition / 2nd Impression;
  • Edition Details
  • First published in 1923
  • Format
  • Hardcover | Cloth
  • Condition
  • Book: Very Good | DJ: No DJ
  • Signed
  • Not signed by author | Not signed. Includes contemporary gift or ownership inscription to Elisabeth Cook.
  • Association copy
  • Originally owned by Elisabeth Cook, her 1938 marriage to Sir Humphrey Orme Clarke integrated her into a family with direct blood lineage, via Elfrida Roosevelt, to U.S. Presidents Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt. This copy provides physical evidence of the engagement with African American Modernism within the elite political and diplomatic circles of the mid-20th century.
  • Provenance
  • From the library of Elisabeth Cook (Lady Clarke); subsequently by descent through the Clarke baronetcy (Sir Humphrey Orme Clarke, 5th Bt., and Sir Tobias Clarke, 6th Bt.).
  • Additional Items

DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION

  • Description
  • Hardcover | Cloth. Light brown cloth with cream title plate to spine. Inscription to Elizabeth Cook - see provenance. Language: English. Size: 19.5 cm by 13 cm. Pages: xi, 239.
  • Book Condition
  • Very Good
  • Very light wear to corners, edges and spine ends. Very minor faint mark to cloth. Tightly bound with minor spots to intact endpapers and strong hinges. Darker toning to rear endpaper gutter. Toned text block edges with some spotting spilling to extreme page margins.
  • Dust Jacket Condition
  • No DJ

NOTES

  • Association
  • Originally owned by Elisabeth Cook, her 1938 marriage to Sir Humphrey Orme Clarke integrated her into a family with direct blood lineage, via Elfrida Roosevelt, to U.S. Presidents Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt. This copy provides physical evidence of the engagement with African American Modernism within the elite political and diplomatic circles of the mid-20th century.
  • Provenance
  • Elisabeth Cook, daughter of Dr. William Alexander Cook, married Sir Humphrey Orme Clarke, 5th Bt., in 1938. Sir Humphrey (1906–1949), son of Sir Orme Bigland Clarke, 4th Bt., and Elfrida Roosevelt, served with the British Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Office. He had two other marriages that both ended in divorce. His son with Elisabeth, Sir Charles Mansfield Tobias Clarke, 6th Bt. (1939–2019), succeeded his father in 1973 after an education at Eton, Christ Church, the Sorbonne, and NYU. Sir Charles had a distinguished career in finance and served as chairman of the Standing Council of the Baronetage. He married Charlotte Walter in 1971 and Teresa Lorraine Aphrodite de Chair in 1984. Notably, through his grandmother Elfrida Roosevelt, Sir Charles was related to U.S. Presidents Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • Resume
  • Cane is universally recognized as one of the most important works of the Harlem Renaissance and modernist literary structure. A work of extraordinary formal innovation, a triptych of interconnected prose and poetry that fuses the lyrical beauty of the black spiritual tradition with the stark realities of post-slavery life in Georgia and Washington D.C. The first section evokes the tragic beauty and spiritual exhaustion of rural Southern Black life; the second focuses on the urban middle class; and the third attempts a spiritual resolution.
  • Author
  • Jean Toomer was an enigmatic figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Born Nathan Eugene Toomer to a mixed-race family in Washington D.C., he resisted simple classification, choosing to identify simply as 'American' later in life. His early career involved farming, teaching, and experimental communal living before he committed his life to writing. Cane was his only novel and his masterpiece, blending poetry, short fiction, and drama to capture the African American experience in the rural South. Though he never matched the success of his debut and faded from the public eye to pursue an interest in Gurdjieff’s spiritual philosophy, his legacy endures as a supreme stylist and a foundational voice in Black American literature.

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