William Gardner Smith. ANGER AT INNOCENCE. New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1950. First edition, first printing with FS colophon on copyright and no additional printings indicated. Hardcover. Publisher's navy blue paper-covered boards with silver lettering on spine. 8vo; [6], 300pp. With names of previous owners, Dr. W. Edward Farrison and Dr. Patsy Perry, both former English professors at North Carolina Central University in Durham, written in ink on front paste-down. Whiteman p. 43.

8 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.

William Gardner Smith (1927-1974) was a journalist and novelist who spent much of his adult life in France, moving there soon after the publication of his second novel, Anger at Innocence. There, he joined other African American writers such as Richard Wright, hoping to escape the racism they faced in the U.S. Anger at Innocence is described as "a story reminiscent...of the morality plays.... For it is precisely in the conviction of his characters, dimensioned and vital, that he holds our fascinated interest" (jacket flap).

Boards with edgewear, a few small dents and faint marks, and corners bumped and rubbed, spine with chipping at ends and slight separation from text block at head; near pristine interior with very mild toning and occasional offsetting; lacking jacket except for portions of jacket flaps pasted to final free endpaper verso. A very good copy of this scarce title.