Tales of Amadou Koumba
Birago Diop · Translated by Dorothy S. Blair · Oxford University Press, 1966
The first English edition of a landmark collection carrying Senegalese and Wolof oral storytelling into print.
Senegalese oral tradition in a landmark English edition
Birago Diop was a leading Senegalese writer associated with the Négritude movement and a vital interpreter of West African oral literature. These tales preserve the voice, wit, moral imagination, and storytelling structures of the Wolof tradition associated with the griot Amadou Koumba.
Dorothy S. Blair’s translation introduced the collection to English-language readers in 1966. This Oxford edition is the first English translation, distinct from the original French publication of 1947.
The first English edition in original pictorial boards
This copy retains the striking brown, yellow, black, and white illustrated boards and the clearly lettered Oxford spine. The absence of a dust jacket is disclosed, and the price reflects that difference from jacketed examples.
Good to Very Good
The pictorial boards remain bright and visually strong, with light rubbing and wear at the corners, spine ends, and board edges. A small area of wear is visible at the upper spine and hinge. The spine lettering remains clear, the binding appears intact, and the text block is reasonably square. No dust jacket is present.
The photographs are part of the condition description and should be reviewed before acquisition.