The Dream Keeper and other poems

This First Edition, First Printing copy of The Dream Keeper and other poems by Langston Hughes, Illustrated by Brian Pinkney was published in 1994 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. as a Borzoi Book. The book is signed on the half-title page by Brian Pinkney, who added a hand drawn illustration of a bird and the date 2001 to his signature. This offering of the book includes a framed original copy of the illustration, which appears on page 31 of the book, of a man playing the piano. The framed illustration is signed by Brian Pinkney and dated 1994.

The book, which measures approximately 7 inches wide by 9.25 inches tall by 0.5 inches thick, contains xi pages of preliminary material followed by 83 pages of poems and accompanying illustrations. The book is hardbound in red paper covered boards with a gray cloth covered spine. The book's title is embossed on the front cover and printed in gilt lettering on the spine. The book is enclosed in its original dust jacket, with the dust jacket further enclosed in a plastic protective cover. The dust jack has not been price-clipped. Both the book and the dust jacket are in as new condition.

The original copy of the page 31 illustration, which is of the same size as the book's illustration, is centrally mounted in a 7.25 x 10 inch dark wood frame with white mat between the illustration and the frame borders. A glass front cover protects the illustration. The framed illustration is also in as new condition. The illustrations accompanying this description show:

1. The front face of the dust jacket
2. The half title page, with signature of Brian Pinkney
3. A 2-page spread showing the title page and frontispiece
4. A typical 2-page spread of poems and illustrations
5. The framed original illustration

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the Negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue." [Wikipedia]

Brian Pinkney (born August 28, 1961, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American illustrator.
His father, Jerry Pinkney, was an illustrator and his mother, Gloria Jean, was an author, milliner, and silversmith. Both had studios in their home. Pinkney was encouraged by his parents to use the materials in the studio. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1983 and after working as a freelance illustrator for several years, he returned to college. This time, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in 1990. As of 2019, he was living with his wife Andrea Davis Pinkney and their two children in Brooklyn, New York. They often work together on projects and between them, have published over seventy children's books. [Wikipedia]