GORER, Geoffrey. Africa Dances
GORER, Geoffrey. Africa Dances: a book about West African Negroes. London: Faber & Faber. 1935. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the sumptuous dust jacket, a wraparound design by the inimitable Barnett Freedman. A good copy, the cloth a trifle mottled, the gilt lettering at spine dulled. The spine tips gently bumped, but the binding tight and square. The contents clean, very slightly toned throughout, but mild, and with a small crayon mark to the front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (15s net) with several small chips and nicks to the corners and tips, a small handful of closed tears and with a closed horizontal tear to the spine. Nevertheless a handsome copy.
A fascinating if not somewhat terminologically outdated travel volume which formed the travel-writing career springboard for the anthropologist, Gorer. In the 1930s, Gorer began a romantic relationship with the impressive Senegalese ballet dancer, Féral Benga, a model of the Harlem Renaissance who owned a popular nightclub in Paris. It is here they planned a tour of the French colonised African countries, ‘set for any town or village where a native dance might be seen’, and uncovering the dancer’s thoughts about gods, sex, totems, fetish, and more. After the zig-zag journey, Gorer produced this, which was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. With sixty-two photographs and five maps, the volume is elevated by the typically excellent Freedman dust jacket.
GORER, Geoffrey. Africa Dances: a book about West African Negroes. London: Faber & Faber. 1935. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the sumptuous dust jacket, a wraparound design by the inimitable Barnett Freedman. A good copy, the cloth a trifle mottled, the gilt lettering at spine dulled. The spine tips gently bumped, but the binding tight and square. The contents clean, very slightly toned throughout, but mild, and with a small crayon mark to the front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (15s net) with several small chips and nicks to the corners and tips, a small handful of closed tears and with a closed horizontal tear to the spine. Nevertheless a handsome copy.
A fascinating if not somewhat terminologically outdated travel volume which formed the travel-writing career springboard for the anthropologist, Gorer. In the 1930s, Gorer began a romantic relationship with the impressive Senegalese ballet dancer, Féral Benga, a model of the Harlem Renaissance who owned a popular nightclub in Paris. It is here they planned a tour of the French colonised African countries, ‘set for any town or village where a native dance might be seen’, and uncovering the dancer’s thoughts about gods, sex, totems, fetish, and more. After the zig-zag journey, Gorer produced this, which was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. With sixty-two photographs and five maps, the volume is elevated by the typically excellent Freedman dust jacket.
GORER, Geoffrey. Africa Dances: a book about West African Negroes. London: Faber & Faber. 1935. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s black cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the sumptuous dust jacket, a wraparound design by the inimitable Barnett Freedman. A good copy, the cloth a trifle mottled, the gilt lettering at spine dulled. The spine tips gently bumped, but the binding tight and square. The contents clean, very slightly toned throughout, but mild, and with a small crayon mark to the front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (15s net) with several small chips and nicks to the corners and tips, a small handful of closed tears and with a closed horizontal tear to the spine. Nevertheless a handsome copy.
A fascinating if not somewhat terminologically outdated travel volume which formed the travel-writing career springboard for the anthropologist, Gorer. In the 1930s, Gorer began a romantic relationship with the impressive Senegalese ballet dancer, Féral Benga, a model of the Harlem Renaissance who owned a popular nightclub in Paris. It is here they planned a tour of the French colonised African countries, ‘set for any town or village where a native dance might be seen’, and uncovering the dancer’s thoughts about gods, sex, totems, fetish, and more. After the zig-zag journey, Gorer produced this, which was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. With sixty-two photographs and five maps, the volume is elevated by the typically excellent Freedman dust jacket.