UNCLE REMUS. His Songs and Sayings.
The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation. With Illustrations by Frederick S. Church and James H. Moser. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1881. 8 pp undated ads. Original blue-grey cloth pictorially decorated in black and gilt.
First Edition, first printing, of Joel Chandler Harris's first and most beloved book, featuring Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear (with occasional appearances by Brer Terrapin). In addition to 34 such "Legends of the Old Plantation" (including "The Tar-Baby"), the volume includes "Plantation Proverbs" plus Uncle Remus's "Songs" and "Sayings." At the time he wrote these, Harris (who was white) was on the staff of the Atlanta Constitution -- in which newspaper the tales had first begun appearing in 1879.
Uncle Remus is both typical and strongly individual, and his tales, based on native legends, are told with a simple humor and authentic dialect that is in perfect harmony with the thing said and the way of saying it" [OCAL].
Some of Harris's tales are today rather politically incorrect, as he portrays the life of a slave as hard but rewarding.
This copy is in the first of the "three states, probably printings" [Blanck], with "presumptive" (later changed to "presumptuous") in the last line of page 9, and with no mention of this book in the ads. The cloth color is blue-grey (one of four or five colors used), and has the standard original butterfly-patterned endpapers.
This copy's condition is very good-plus, perhaps near-fine: there is little external wear other than minor rubbing at the edges, but there are a few leaves with a marginal damp-mark. The gilt on the front cover and spine remains bright, and the original endpapers are intact. A Christmas 1880 endpaper inscription confirms that this book, though post-dated 1881, was actually issued in the first week of December 1880. Blanck 7100; one of the Grolier "100 Influential American Books printed before 1900"; one of Johnson's "High Spots of American Literature." Item #15633
Price: $1,350.00