Excelsior. Book of Poems

Holly Springs, 1944. First Edition. 8vo, wraps, 20 pp. Wraps detached at spine and with some tears, stain to front wrap and some ink residue, good condition. Good. A privately printed collection of poems by Richard Pitts, who at the time was a student at Rust College in Holly Springs. According to his biography, Pitts was "stricken with arthritis and was a shut-in for five years." The poems mostly deal with moral issues, with titles such as "Don't Try to Peep," "Disobedience" and "Do the Best You Can." Pitts also addresses racism directly. The poem on the rear wrap is entitled "When Will the War Close?" and reads, "When man sees man just as a man ; And hot his skin or color; Justice be given to every man / just as you would a brother. / The blood that's spilled on the battlefield / Has just one common color. / This cruel war will surely end / When each man becomes a brother." OCLC locates four copies, at Yale, Howard, University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi.