We Know Better by James Aswell (1927)

We Know Better by James Aswell. 

Gordon Lewis Publisher 

Charlottesville, VA

(C) 1927

On 9/16/23 our family was in Philadelphia and went to the Italian Market in South Philly, and there was a bookstore there - Molly’s Books and Records - so we went into it. Our kids were interested in vinyl and ended up buying some 45s while I looked around, and looked around, and then looked up between the top of the bookshelf that hosted the poetry section there and the ceiling and there were a few larger books that didn’t fit on the shelves arranged just out of my reach - one of which caught my eye though. 

It was a black cover with what looked like woodcut letter pressed words but I couldn’t make it out from the distance I was from the book, so I got the employee’s attention and asked to see that book and it was We Know Better by James Aswell. Instantly I knew I was dealing with something unique because this book was published in Charlottesville, VA - in 1927. 

So, what makes it unique? Well, the “black cover” that first attracted my eye was a cardboard box, a clamshell cover, for a staple-bound book of poetry with woodcut images throughout by Don Millar. 

It’s 72 pages, but it’s staple bound. And I had never seen a book published in 1927 be presented like this before - so, yeah, unique. And it was signed by James Aswell. 

I haven’t found much about the author but of the publisher - Gordon Lewis was an owner of Charlottesville's landmark bookstore The New Dominion Bookshop from at least 1923 as well as a contributor the University of Virginia Magazine in the 1920s.

Perhaps he published other uniquely presented books as well.