"Toledo, Ohio: Hadley & Hadley, 1895. Full Description: DUNBAR, Paul Laurence. Majors and Minors: Poems. [Toledo, Ohio: Hadley & Hadley, 1895]. First edition author's rare second book. Inscribed by Dunbar on blank recto of the frontispiece portrait ""Compliments of Paul Laurence Dunbar"". Small octavo (7 x 5 1/8 inches; 178 x 130 mm). 148 pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait. Publisher's original gray cloth. Front board stamped and lettered in gilt. Top edge stained dark. Floral patterned endpapers. Spine slightly sunned. Some light rubbing to spine and corners. Front and rear hinges repaired. Front free endpaper chipped along edges, repaired. Leaves uniformly toned. Still overall a very good copy. Some contemporary newspaper clipping regarding Dunbar laid in. ""Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872, to two formerly enslaved people from Kentucky. He became one of the first influential Black poets in American literature and was internationally acclaimed for his dialect verse in collections such as Majors and Minors (Hadley & Hadley, 1895) and Lyrics of Lowly Life (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1896). The dialect poems constitute only a small portion of Dunbar's canon, which is replete with novels, short stories, essays, and many poems. In its entirety, Dunbar's literary body is regarded as an impressive representation of Black life in the turn-of-the-century United States."" (Poetry Foundation). BAL 4917; Blockson 101 HBS 69506. $4,500."