What Manner of Man: A Biography Of Martin Luther King, Jr.

KING JR., Martin Luther) Lerone Bennett.

Item Number: 5475

Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, Inc, 1964.

First edition. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed on the front free endpaper, “To Officer Harry Scott With best wishes and great appreciation for your support Martin Luther King Jr.” Light wear to the extremities and previous owner’s name, near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a few small closed tears. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. This is the first example we have seen signed by Dr. King.

Published in 1964, What Manner of Man was the first biography written about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King was 35 years old and had just won the Nobel Peace Prize at the time of publication, for his pivotal role in the American Civil Rights Movement. The biographer, Lerone Bennett Jr., was a colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr. at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout the text, Bennett manages to relate with eloquence and thoroughness the passion of Dr. King, referring to him as a modern day Moses."Lerone Bennett has succeeded in giving his readers an intimate look into the physical, mental, and spiritual growth of Dr. King" (Boston Globe).