FIRST EDITION OF TOLD BY UNCLE REMUS, 1905, INSCRIBED BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
HARRIS, Joel Chandler. Told by Uncle Remus. New Stories of the Old Plantation. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1905. Octavo, original pictorial red cloth gilt, top edge gilt, uncut. Housed in custom half morocco clamshell box.
First edition of the “last important collection” of Uncle Remus tales, inscribed by the author, “Faithfully yours, Joel Chandler Harris, 10 February 1907.”
In 1880, Harris published his first book of Uncle Remus stories, setting down old African American folktales in the dialect in which he heard them. Seven more would follow. He "had announced in the preface to Uncle Remus and His Friends [1892] that 'the old man will bother the public no more with his whimsical stories.' But Harris' actual public was more receptive than the one he imagined, and their response called him back for more… [and] he came out in 1905 with his last important collection, Told by Uncle Remus" (Raymond Hedin, Southern Literary Journal15:1, Fall 1982, page 90). The stories "were never meant to be told for the benefit of a white child; rather they were an integral part of the slave culture out of which they grew. Nevertheless, Harris made an important contribution by carefully and accurately preserving" them (Silvey, 296). Illustrated with 18 black-and-white plates. BAL 7156. Spiller et al., 540. See Blockson 6629. Bookseller's small ticket. Small inkstamp to front pastedown.
Interior generally clean. Occasional minor marginal paper loss; light creasing to pages 51-78. Original cloth with mild rubbing to spine and front board. An extremely good inscribed copy.