Benjamin Brawley's personal copy of Porgy, the basis for Gershwin's influential opera Porgy and Bess. Brawley was an American author and educator, whose books include The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States (1918) and New Survey of English Literature (1925). He served as the first dean of Morehouse College from 1912 to 1920, taught at Shaw University, and was the chair of the English department at Howard University.

Octavo, 196 pages. In Good plus condition. Bound in publisher's orange cloth with black stamping to spine and front board. Some general shelf wear and rubbing. Ownership inscription of Benjamin Brawley appears on the front free end paper, some scattered pencil marginalia, with certain passages marked with lines, presumed in Brawley's hand. First edition, second printing, with 'B' on copyright page. Shelved in Case 2.