Page 292 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

541 ● (SPORTS—BOXING.) LOUIS,
JOE. Max Schmelling over Joe Louis.
Poster, printed in red and blue on a white
ground, 411⁄
2 x 28 inches, linen-backed.
With photographic vignettes of Louis and
Schmelling. New York, 1938 [600/800]
“12 Official rounds packed with thrills.”
Billed as the “Fight of the Century”
Schmelling was yet another “great white hope”
come to regain white dignity. So much was
packed into these bouts as surrogate race wars.
The poster was printed in red, white and blue,
and no opportunity was lost in the media to
take advantage of the victory. The 1938 boxing
rematch between American Joe Louis and
German Max Schmeling is believed to have
had the largest audience in history for a single
radio broadcast. In 2005, the Library of
Congress selected it for the National Recording
Registry.
541
542 ● (SPORTS—CYCLING.) TAYLOR, MARSHALL W. “MAJOR.” The Fastest
Bicycle Rider in the World. The Story of a Colored Boy’s Indomitable Courage
and Success Against Great Odds. Frontispiece and additional illustrations. Large, thick
8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt; in the original pictorial dust-jacket with some
chips and closed tears; still mostly present. Worcester: Wormley, (1928) [1,000/1,500]
FIRST EDITION OF A VERY SCARCE, SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK.Marshall Walter “Major”
Taylor (1878-1932) was an African American cyclist who won the world 1 mile (1.6 km)
track cycling championship in 1899 after setting numerous world records and overcoming wide-
spread racial discrimination. He was the first African-American athlete ever to achieve the level
of “World Champion” and only the second black man to win any world championship-after
Canadian boxer George Dixon.
543 ● (SPORTS.) FABRONIUS, D.G. John B. Bailey, Professor of Sparring and
Gymnastics. Hand-colored lithograph, 181⁄
2 x 13 3⁄
4 inches; several large archival repairs to
reverse. SOLD WITH ALL FLAWS. Boston: Trochsler & Co, 1870 [600/800]
544 ● (SPORTS—FOOTBALL.) Inter-Sectional Grid-Iron Classic. Lincoln
University vs Langston University . . . Nov. 7, 1936. Tall color poster, 22 x 135⁄8
inches; some very minor wear at the edges and corners.
San Francisco: Borden Printing Co, 1936 [600/800]
A RARE SURVIVAL, this poster for a “grid-iron classic” advertises a battle between two all-black
universities: Lincoln University, located in Jefferson City Missouri, was founded in 1866 by
the men of the 62nd and 65th United States Colored Infantries and their white officers. The
opposing team was from Langston, Oklahoma, founded in 1897.