The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An English first edition hardcover of The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches by W.E.B. DuBois.

The 246-page book has original, plain dark brown-black cloth covers. On the spine in gold is: [THE / SOULS / OF / BLACK / FOLK / DuBOIS / CONSTABLE / LONDON]. There is a frontispiece portrait of DuBois with signature opposite the title page, followed by the copyright and dedication: [TO / BURGHARDT AND YOLANDE / THE LOST AND THE FOUND]. The book begins with a “Forethought” before the index, contains fourteen essays, and ends with an “Afterthought” on the last page.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1905
• Written by: W.E.B. Du Bois, American, 1868 - 1963
• Published by: Constable & Co, Scottish, founded 1795
• Printed by: John Wilson & Son, American
• Type: books
• Medium: ink on paper with cloth
• Dimensions: H x W x D (open): 8 7/16 × 11 11/16 × 1 in. (21.5 × 29.7 × 2.6 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (closed): 8 7/16 × 5 11/16 × 1 in. (21.5 × 14.5 × 2.6 cm)
• Place printed: London, England, Europe
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Christianity
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Freedom
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Literature
• Topic: Poetry
• Topic: Race relations
• Object number: 2021.16.12
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.