Freedom’s Plow.

New York: Musette Publisher’s Inc., 1943. Small 8vo (7.75” x 5.25”), printed cream wrappers. [3–]14 pp. CONDITION: Very good, slight ding to fore-edge with 1/16th inch tear to first few leaves.

First edition, first printing of Hughes’s twelve-page poem in praise of labor and freedom. Inscribed “For Pearl Buck, in admiration, Sincerely, Langston Hughes New York, November 9, 1943.”

A printed note on the verso of the front wrapper reads: “This poem was read by Paul Muni over the Blue Network on Monday, March 15, 1943 from 3:45 to 4:00 P.M. Eastern War Time. Background music was furnished by organ accompaniment and the Golden Gate Quartette.” Musette subsequently issued a recording of the poem read by actor Frederic March, as noted in subsequent printings. An appealing association copy linking Hughes with one of the most notable woman writers and humanitarians of the era.