The New Cab Calloway's Cat-ologue
A Hepster's Dictionary, Revised 1939 Edition
Attributed to Cab Calloway
Rare Black slang dictionary
from the Cotton Club era
[New York]: [No Publisher], 1939. Revised edition. The second edition of
the pocket dictionary of African American slang attributed to the famous
Cotton Club orchestra leader. It has been billed as "the first
dictionary published by a Black person," but more accurately it is one
of the first lexicons of African American slang of the Jazz age. Some of
the words and phrases spread like gangbusters to mainstream America:
"chick," "freeby," "hot," "in the groove," "mellow," "corny," and
"reefer" for example. Some did not, such as the phrase "togged to the
bricks" (meaning to be dressed to kill) and "glims" (much better known
as eyes).
[16] pp. 2.75" x 4.4" Stapled wraps. Very Good with wave
along bottom outer corner of booklet, not stained though, smaller corner
crease; staples rusted with a little offsetting. Rare, only one
institutional copy located in a recent OCLC Worldcat search.