Journals

Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Embellished Manuscripts Collection

Published in 1969, Maya Angelou’s coming-of-age memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was an immediate national bestseller and a critical success. On the manuscript page reproduced here, Angelou captures the moment when she and her brother, Bailey, arrived in Arkansas to be raised by their paternal grandmother.

Item no. 9781439781845

? Hardcover journals contain structured binder boards, softcover do notCover
Size
? Different interior options are available, choose the option that best suits your needsInterior

  • Interior: Lined
  • Closure: Wrap
  • GSM (paper weight): 120 gsm
  • Edge Printing: No
  • Pouch Type: Memento Pouch
  • Satin ribbon marker
  • 100% recycled binder boards
  • Decorative printed cover paper
  • Endpaper with credit and copyright information as well as historical background for the original artwork
  • Threaded stitching and glue, as needed
  • Acid-free sustainable forest paper
  • Memento pouch

Considering the environmental impacts of doing business is important to us. That's why all of our paper is derived from sustainable forest pulp, our binder boards are made with 100% recycled materials and our paper is printed on acid-free, sustainable forest paper.

Original art: manuscript draft of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Era: circa 1969
Region: United States

Published in 1969, Maya Angelou’s coming-of-age memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was an immediate national bestseller and a critical success. The book, the first in a series that chronicled her early life through the 1960s, helped to establish Angelou (1928–2014) as a major figure in American letters.

On this manuscript page from the book, Angelou captures the moment when she and her brother, Bailey, arrived in Arkansas to be raised by their paternal grandmother and presages the personalities that she and Bailey would later develop. Today the manuscript is held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a part of The New York Public Library.

With connections to activist, literary and expat communities in the United States and Ghana, Angelou’s work encapsulates the Schomburg Center’s strongest holdings – stories of the struggles, triumphs and fortitude in the everyday vicissitudes of Black life. We are honoured to partner with The New York Public Library to bring this fascinating document to our Paperblanks collection.

Learn more about our exclusive collaboration with The New York Public Library.

Published in 1969, Maya Angelou’s coming-of-age memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was an immediate national bestseller and a critical success. On the manuscript page reproduced here, Angelou captures the moment when she and her brother, Bailey, arrived in Arkansas to be raised by their paternal grandmother.

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